Change in elementary school students’ misconceptions on material systems after a theoretical-practical instruction

Florentina Cañada Cañada; David González-Gómez; Diego Airado-Rodríguez; María Antonia Dávila Acedo; Lina Viviana Melo Niño

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2017) IEJEE

Change in elementary school students’ misconceptions on material systems after a theoretical-practical instruction

Florentina Cañada Cañada
David González-Gómez
Diego Airado-Rodríguez
María Antonia Dávila Acedo
Lina Viviana Melo Niño

Published August 23, 2017 | Pages: 499-510 | Views: 556

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Abstract

Students get to Elementary School with a series of misconceptions which are not necessarily in agreement with the scientific knowledge. Misconceptions result from the student’s attempts to understand their previous experiences resulting from their interaction with their environment and they must be taken into account in educational practice to design appropriate instructional strategies that will impulse their evolution into more scientific-academic concepts. This research aims to detect the initial knowledge that twenty-one fifth grade Elementary Education students (ages ranged: 10-11 years old) have about material composition. A questionnaire was used as an instrument to determine initial misconceptions. Based on the students’ answers, important misconceptions were identified, and an appropriate instructional strategy was design to foster the students’ conceptual change about the studied topic. A post-task questionnaire conducted after the instruction revealed the suitability of the proposed instructional design.

<p>Students get to Elementary School with a series of misconceptions which are not necessarily in agreement with the scientific knowledge. Misconceptions result from the student’s attempts to understand their previous experiences resulting from their interaction with their environment and they must be taken into account in educational practice to design appropriate instructional strategies that will impulse their evolution into more scientific-academic concepts. This research aims to detect the initial knowledge that twenty-one fifth grade Elementary Education students (ages ranged: 10-11 years old) have about material composition. A questionnaire was used as an instrument to determine initial misconceptions. Based on the students’ answers, important misconceptions were identified, and an appropriate instructional strategy was design to foster the students’ conceptual change about the studied topic. A post-task questionnaire conducted after the instruction revealed the suitability of the proposed instructional design.</p>

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Keywords

Misconceptions, Experimentation in chemistry, Elementary school, Conceptual change

Affiliations

Florentina Cañada Cañada

University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

David González-Gómez

University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain

Diego Airado-Rodríguez

University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

María Antonia Dávila Acedo

University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

Lina Viviana Melo Niño

University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

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How to Cite

Cañada Cañada, F., González-Gómez, D., Airado-Rodríguez, D., Acedo, M. A. D., & Niño, L. V. M. (2017). Change in elementary school students’ misconceptions on material systems after a theoretical-practical instruction. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 9(3), 499–510. Retrieved from https://iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/173