---
title: "Scientific misconceptions"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_misconceptions"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:21:32.885109+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Addressing student misconceptions ==
A number of lines of evidence suggest that the recognition and revision of student misconceptions involves active, rather than passive, involvement with the material. A common approach to instruction involves meta-cognition, that is to encourage students to think about their thinking about a particular problem. In part this approach requires students to verbalize, defend and reformulate their understanding. Recognizing the realities of the modern classroom, a number of variations have been introduced. These include Eric Mazur's peer instruction, as well as various tutorials in physics. Using a metacognitive approach, researchers have also found that making students metacognitively aware of their own intuitive conceptions through a self-assessment and supporting them in self-regulating their intuitive conceptions in scientific contexts enhances students' conceptual understanding. Scientific inquiry is another technique that provides an active engagement opportunity for students and incorporates metacognition and critical thinking.
Success with inquiry-based learning activities relies on a deep foundation of factual knowledge. Students then use observation, imagination, and reasoning about scientific phenomena they are studying to organize knowledge within a conceptual framework. The teacher monitors the changing concepts of the students through formative assessment as the instruction proceeds. Beginning inquiry activities should develop from simple concrete examples to more abstract. As students progress through inquiry, opportunities should be included for students to generate, ask, and discuss challenging questions. According to Magnusson and Palincsan, teachers should allow multiple cycles of investigation where students can ask the same questions as their understanding of the concept matures. Through strategies that apply formative assessment of student learning and adjust accordingly, teachers can help redirect scientific misconceptions. Research has shown that science teachers have a wide repertoire to deal with misconceptions and report a variety of ways to respond to students' alternative conceptions, e.g., attempting to induce a cognitive conflict using analogies, requesting an elaboration of the conception, referencing specific flaws in reasoning, or offering a parallel between the student's conception and a historical theory. However, approximately half of the teachers do not address students' misconceptions, but instead agree with them, respond scientifically incorrect, or formulate the correct scientific explanation themselves without addressing the specific student conception.

== See also ==
List of common misconceptions – Common misconceptions, including scientific ones
Superseded theories in science
List of fallacies
Wiley Bad Science Series of books:
Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax"
Badastronomy.com blog

== Footnotes ==

== References ==
Barker, V. 2004. Beyond appearances : students' misconceptions about basic chemical ideas. 2nd edition (accessed on-line 9 Sept. 2008)
Charles, E.S. & S.T. d'Apollonia. 2003. A systems approach to education. PEREA report.
Hake RR (1998). "Interactive-engagement versus traditional methods: a six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses". Am J Phys. 66 (1): 64–74. Bibcode:1998AmJPh..66...64H. doi:10.1119/1.18809.
Krebs, Robert E. (1999). Scientific development and misconceptions through the ages: a reference guide. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30226-8.
Morton JP; Doran DA; Maclaren DP (June 2008). "Common student misconceptions in exercise physiology and biochemistry". Adv Physiol Educ. 32 (2): 142–6. doi:10.1152/advan.00095.2007. PMID 18539853. S2CID 8066357.
Visscher PM; Hill WG; Wray NR (April 2008). "Heritability in the genomics era--concepts and misconceptions". Nature Reviews Genetics. 9 (4): 255–66. doi:10.1038/nrg2322. PMID 18319743. S2CID 690431.
How Students Learn. 2005. A National Academy of Sciences Report.
Fuchs, T.T., & Arsenault, M. (2017). Using test data to find misconceptions in secondary science. School Science Review 364(98) 31-36.