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Learning to Recognize Students' Misconceptions

September 22, 2008

The CIRTL Network is training graduate students to detect what undergraduates are really learning in science courses, and where their conceptual errors lie.  An online interdisciplinary online course, "Teaching and Learning Science: Changing Student Misconceptions," shows how students often try to apply "common sense" ideas to biological and chemical processes - even though these concepts may not work. The way students look at things is different from the way experts look at them, says instructor Mike Klymkowsky. “It's critical, when you're teaching, that you understand what students are thinking," he says. For example, students frequently misunderstand graphs unless their instructors explain them clearly. The course goal is to give future faculty the tools they need to be able to appreciate the conceptual problems students face. More about CIRTL’s current and upcoming course offerings is available here.