You are to research the current literature concerning misconceptions within a particular content area of science and provide a 4-6 page summary and application of this research in APA style. This is due by March 29. First choose a particular content area of science, broad enough to find research on children’s conceptions in that area (such as we studied on light). The table in the text on page 13-14 gives examples of research which has explored children’s ideas on natural phenomena. Then begin to search for articles that would report on research or reviews of research on the particular children’s conception. You must review at least three articles or chapters for your paper. At least one article should review research in misconceptions in the particular content you are researching; the other two could be general articles about teaching that content or misconception research in general. Begin your search early so you have time to receive inter-library loan materials. You also may want to consult Children’s Ideas in Science by Driver, Guesne, and Tiberghien (1985). The journals listed below are in the Berry library and might have some research articles and some activity articles. ERIC is another excellent source for specific research in science education areas. Choose research articles from these or other sources, including books. Feel free to have me review an article to see if it fulfills these criteria.

Your summary should be typewritten (double-spaced) and cogently express both children’s conception research and your ideas for applications to classroom teaching. Include the following areas, as necessary:

An introduction that highlights why you chose the particular concept to explore.

A brief review of the research reported in each article.

A summary that unifies the three or more articles in terms of children’s conceptions of the science concept. Try to provide a structure to help the reader understand in a global sense how children think about this concept. This may include creating a table, chart, web, or other visual representation.

Your ideas for applications should be stated in terms of what teachers should be aware of in teaching these concepts to children. Are there any specific activities teachers might do once they are aware of children’s concepts in this area?

All citations and references APA format.

Journal of Research in Science Teaching

Science and Children & Science Scope & The Science Teacher

Science Education

School Science and Mathematics

Elementary School Journal & Middle School Journal

The ERIC database contains more than 850,000 abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice. The Berry library has a complete collection of ERIC (ED) documents!  These can be searched through GALILEO.

http://www.berry.edu/library/resources/index.html or http://www.galileo.peachnet.edu/Homepage.cgi

Ask  for the current Berry password.  The education search engines are listed on:

http://www.berry.edu/library/resources/educ.html  

This includes full-text sites. Wilson  Omni-file has many education full-text articles.  E*Subscribe has full-text ERIC ED documents.  

http://ericae2.educ.cua.edu/scripts/ewiz/amain2.asp or http://ericir.syr.edu/

This state-of-the-art search engine allows patrons to interactively select terms from the *ERIC Thesaurus* to build high-quality, effective searches. 

Misconceptions Papers:  The following links go to papers written by teachers enrolled in EDU 633 in previous semesters.  These represent a range of responses to the assignment and can be used to find possible references for your research.

Cyndi Holcombe Misconceptions of Weather, Spring 2001

Ruth Pinson  Misconceptions of Weather, Spring 2001

Jennifer J. Jones Misconceptions of the Moon, Spring 2001

Brenda Anthony  Misconceptions About Acquisition Of The Common Cold, Spring 2001

Tammy Barnett   Misconceptions About Newton's Third Law of Motion

Cindy Chambers   Misconceptions About Diffusion and Osmosis Processes

Earlene Cameron   Misconceptions About the Earth's Shape and Gravity

Kelly Eilderton   Misconceptions About Weather

Michael Huneke   Misconceptions About Gravity

Elizabeth Jefferson   Misconceptions Research About Earth Shape

Debra Lyons   Misconceptions About Animals

Tony Molock   Misconceptions About Evolution

Judy Ross   Misconceptions About Animals

Dena Wilson   Misconceptions About Dinosaurs