Misconceptions Preconceptions Prior Knowledge Alternative Conceptions Maligned Mental Models

Why are science teachers so interested in misconceptions?

“All of the puzzle pieces had finally come together. The picture was right in front of me. I may not have expected the outcome of the experiments, but I will remember the results because I had seen and come up with the ideas on my own.” student after many months of inquiry-based physics class

Teacher: So if you had a powerful microscope, a “magic microscope” that you could kind of see inside the bulb what would you see? Bill: Electrons go in the wire and go off, I don’t know, they like get bright so they leave the wire, I guess, like the filament so you lose them. The electrons would be going in there and then bouncing around so that they go off out of the filament. Teacher: So the electrons are creating the light? Bill: They are the light, yeah. A B C E D