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Misconceptions—what students think they know

Misconceptions—what students think they know Misconceptions—what students think they know Joel Michael Department of Physiology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois 60612 Key words: alternate conceptions; physiology education Students’ understanding of many physiological phenomena is often seriously flawed. That is, students have faulty mental models of many of the things we ask them to learn. Such conceptual difficulties are often referred to as misconceptions. The problem with misconceptions is that they are often quite persistent, and they seriously interfere with the students’ ability to learn physiology. How do you know that a student has a misconception? You ask a question and find that the answer you get is wrong, often in an odd or unexpected way. So, you ask a follow-up question, or you ask the student to explain the previous answer, and again you get an odd answer or explanation. Thus the questions that you have asked, whether in the classroom or in your office, are diagnostic probes, and the answers that you get are diagnostic signs of the possible presence of a misconception. What do you do when find a misconception? First, you try to help the student repair the faulty mental model. Second, if you know that a particular misconception is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Advances in Physiology Education The American Physiological Society

Misconceptions—what students think they know

Michael, Joel
Advances in Physiology Education , Volume 26 (1): 5 – Mar 1, 2002
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Publisher
The American Physiological Society
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 the American Physiological Society
ISSN
1043-4046
eISSN
1522-1229
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Abstract

Misconceptions—what students think they know Joel Michael Department of Physiology, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois 60612 Key words: alternate conceptions; physiology education Students’ understanding of many physiological phenomena is often seriously flawed. That is, students have faulty mental models of many of the things we ask them to learn. Such conceptual difficulties are often referred to as misconceptions. The problem with misconceptions is that they are often quite persistent, and they seriously interfere with the students’ ability to learn physiology. How do you know that a student has a misconception? You ask a question and find that the answer you get is wrong, often in an odd or unexpected way. So, you ask a follow-up question, or you ask the student to explain the previous answer, and again you get an odd answer or explanation. Thus the questions that you have asked, whether in the classroom or in your office, are diagnostic probes, and the answers that you get are diagnostic signs of the possible presence of a misconception. What do you do when find a misconception? First, you try to help the student repair the faulty mental model. Second, if you know that a particular misconception is

Journal

Advances in Physiology Education – The American Physiological Society

Published: Mar 1, 2002

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