Misconceptions in Biology - Module 9.5

Some common misconceptions about Human Eye

• The pupil of the eye is a black spot on the surface of the eye. 
  
  
• The eye perceives upright images
•           The lens forms a picture on the retina. The brain then “looks” at this picture. (A.Hapkiewicz, 1992).

Identifying misconceptions is the first step

1. Before starting a new topic teachers must become familiar with common misconceptions that already exists in students (e.g., via websites, discussions with colleagues).
2. Ask students questions  and find that if  the answer you have  got 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 if you get an odd answer or explanation, you can then know that the students have got the concept wrong or have a misconception. For example, ask students what kind of image does a eye perceives- upright images or inverted images.
3. Administer a pre-test that is specifically designed to identify misconceptions .
4. Give a partial introduction to a concept and leave it for discussions in class  and see where they take it. There will be few students who do not get involved in whole class discussions .So its a better  idea to divide the class into small groups and a leader from each group to come forward and share their views or(an Activity like Think-Pair- share.
5. Another way to identify misconception is to create an online discussion forum  about a particular topic that need to be addressed . Ask students to contribute to the forum. This will help teachers to get to know if the misconceptions exist in individual minds. For example question like - How are the things that you see through eyes is perceived by brains? From the answers students write in the forum, teachers can know if they have got the concept right in their minds.

How to break down misconceptions

Recent research on students' conceptual misunderstandings of natural phenomena indicates that new concepts cannot be learned if alternative models that explain a phenomenon already exist in the learner's mind. These beliefs can persist as lingering suspicions in a student's mind and can hinder further learning (McDermott, 1991).

Addressing Misconceptions

1. One of the strategies that can be used  is to have the students create concept maps in cooperative groups. This is to ensure that students are constructing or reconstructing a correct framework for their new knowledge. With this technique, students learn to visualize a group of concepts and their interrelationships. Boxes containing nouns (and sometimes adjectives) are connected to related terms with a series of lines; prepositions or verbs are superimposed on the connecting lines to help clarify the relationship. This is a useful link to create concept map on eye and its parts.
2. Using demonstrations in front of the whole class and lab work where students can collect and analyse the real data can help students to clarify their misconceptions and  help in understanding the concept correctly.
3. Computer is another way to help to visualise the abstract concepts .This link explains the parts of an eye  and computer animations help students to perceive the concepts in a better way .
4. Teachers should try to revisit the misconceptions as often as they can.
5. Some sought of assessment at the end of the topic help teachers understand if students have overcome the misconceptions.

Bibliography

1. Hapkiewicz, A. (1992). Finding a List of Science Misconceptions. MSTA Newsletter, 38 (Winter’92), pp. 11-14.
2. The National Acadamies press. (1997). Science teaching reconsidered. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5287&page=30