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Identifying and Addressing Astronomy Misconceptions in the Classroom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

Neil F. Comins
Neil F. Comins*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, [email protected]

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Students come into our classrooms with many misconceptions about science in general and astronomy in particular (see numerous papers and references in Novak, 1993 and Pfundt & Duit 1993). These beliefs evolve from a variety of sources throughout childhood and adolescence (Comins, 1993a, 1993b, 1995). I have found that directly addressing these incorrect beliefs in the context of their origins helps my students replace them with correct knowledge. By understanding the origins of their misconceptions students can screen information more effectively, i.e., they learn to think more critically. My purpose in this paper is to briefly identify origins of misconceptions and classroom techniques for replacing them.

Type
Section Three
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 162: New Trends in Astronomy Teaching , 1998 , pp. 118 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © 1996

References

Comins, N.F., Misconceptions About Astronomy: Their Origins, 1993a, in, Proc. of the 3rd Inter. Sem. on Misconceptions in Sci. and Math, ed Novak, J.D. (see below).Google Scholar
Comins, N.F., Misconceptions About Astronomy: Their Origins and Effects on Teaching, 1993b, abstract in Bulletin of the Amer. Astro. Society, 25, #4, 1430.Google Scholar
Comins, N.F., What if the Moon Didn't Exist? 1993C, New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
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Kaufmann, W.J. III, & Comins, N.F., 1996, Discovering the Universe 4th, NY:Freeman.Google Scholar
Lett, J., A Field Guide to Critical Thinking, in Skeptical Inquirer, V14, Wint.1990.Google Scholar
Novak, J.D., 1993, Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Misconceptions and Educational Strategies in Science and Math, Cornell University, Homepage: http://meaningful.education.cornell.edu/miscon/homepage.htm Google Scholar
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