Describing and Analyzing Learning in Action: An Empirical Study of the Importance of Misconceptions in Learning Science

摘要

Although misconceptions in science have been established in interviewstudies, their role during the learning process is poorly examined. In this paper, we use resultsfrom a classroom study to analyze to what extent nonscientific ideas in electrochemistrythat students report in interviews enter into their learning in a more authentic setting. Weaudio-recorded talk between eight pairs of Swedish upper secondary students during apractical on electrochemical cells. Learning was operationalized on a discursive level as adescription of what students do and say when taking part in an activity. This enabled ananalysis of how encounters with misconceptions influenced the development of students'reasoning, compared to other encounters during the learning experience. Misconceptionsdid not constrain the development of students' reasoning. Rather, their reasoning developedin response to the contingencies of the specific situation. When misconceptions wereencountered, they appeared as alternatives and questions not actively defended. Sometimes,encounters with these misconceptions were generative of the students' reasoning. Theresults indicate that demonstrating misconceptions in interviews is not enough to assumethat they interfere with learning in other contexts. Educational implications and future lines of research based on these findings and on the methodology applied are discussed.