Addressing Student Misconceptions
A number of lines of evidence suggest that the recognition and revision of student misconceptions involves active, rather than passive, involvement with the material. A common approach to instruction involves meta-cognition, that is to encourage students to think about their thinking about a particular problem. In part this approach requires students to verbalize, defend and reformulate their understanding. Recognizing the realities of the modern classroom, a number of variations have been introduced. These include Eric Mazur's peer instruction, as well as various tutorials in physics developed groups at University of Washington and the University of Maryland. A way to improve students preconceptions is to do formative assessments. Have the students, in writing, answer questions about the unit you are working on.
Read more about this topic: Scientific Misconceptions
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