Research School Network: Preconceptions in Science Recommendation 1 from the EEF’s guidance report

Recommendation 1 of the EEF’s Improving Secondary Science guidance report is as follows:

Preconceptions: Build on the ideas that pupils bring to lessons

There is no surprise that this is the first recommendation. Because of the nature of science, pupils will bring their own understanding of how the world works to the subject. Nuttall (1999) explains how the idea of schema theory illustrates how prior knowledge relates to learning new concepts:

Preconceptions are not always problematic. They will often align with scientific understanding. If not, then they become misconceptions. It is important that we can understand the preconceptions that our pupils are likely to have and build on them; equally important is to foresee and diagnose misconceptions which hinder pupils’ understanding of science.

Recommended in the guidance report is this site from The American Association for the Advancement of Science. It has a comprehensive list of scientific concepts and possible misconceptions that accompany them. There is also an extensive reference list. For example, for their key idea ​‘There are differences in the spacing, motion, and interaction of atoms and molecules that make up solids, liquids, and gases.’, they provide the following misconceptions:

• Atoms or molecules of a solid are not moving; Particles of a gas are closely packed with no empty space between them;
• The gas state of a substance weighs less than the liquid or solid state;
• Observable properties of the state are attributed to the individual molecules (e.g., molecules in a solid are hard; molecules move in gases and liquids, but not in solids; or the molecules of the substance change from soft to hard when a liquid freezes);
• The molecules of the gas state are the lightest and the molecules of the solid state are the heaviest; 
• Atoms and molecules of a gas in a container are not uniformly distributed;
• Atoms or molecules of a gas are not in motion

A good way to understand whether a misconception exists is to provide a hinge question. A well designed multiple choice question can give you really useful information about why something is misunderstood. When we know the possible areas of misconception, these become easier to design. Harry Fletcher-Wood gives this definition for a hinge question:

A check for understanding at a ​‘hinge-point’ in a lesson, so-called because of two inter-linked meanings:
1) It is the point where you move from one key idea/​activity/​point on to another.
2) Understanding the content before the hinge is a prerequisite for the next chunk of learning.

The AAAS provide examples of these types of questions and give this example for the first misconception above:
Why does liquid water take the shape of a cup it is poured into, but solid ice cubes do not?

A: Because the molecules of liquid water are softer than the molecules of solid ice
B: Because the molecules of liquid water are smaller than the molecules of solid ice
C: Because the molecules of liquid water are moving but the molecules of solid ice are not
D: Because the molecules of liquid water can easily move past one another but the molecules of solid ice cannot

Each wrong answer indicates something about the nature of the misconception.

For further reading, we would recommend Damien Benney’s blog post on hinge questions.

Nuthall, G. A. (1999) The way students learn: Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science and social studies unit. Elementary School Journal 99: 303 – 341.