QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY

DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

CHAPTER 2

Students’ Understanding of Science

Introduction

Pause for a moment and reflect on how you learned science in elementary and
high school.

Which of the two scenarios below describes the way you learned science? What
did you do to understand the science concept taught to you?

We all go through a process of thinking in trying to make sense of what we

currently experience. In our minds, we use previous experience in trying to understand
it. The meaning generated is a result of a complicated process. Students need to be
assisted in going through this process. The first task for teachers is, of course, to know
how this process takes place in students. Once teachers understand how students
learn, they need to develop appropriate science activities to facilitate the process of
conceptual understanding for their students.

I. Students’ Thinking: The Pathway towards Meaning Making

Form a generative learning, perspective, students tend to generate meaning by

connecting what they currently experience with prior learnings. The sources of prior
learnings are:

 Naturalistic Learning Experiences

 Informal Learning Experiences
 Structured Learning Experiences

The above classification (Charlesworth and Lind, 1990) is based on who makes
the choice of activity – a significant other or the learner.

Naturalistic learning experiences are spontaneous and it is the learner

who controls both the choice and the action.

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DIFFUN CAMPUS
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COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Below is an example:

Benedict accidentally spills a drop of water on the book

he is reading. He discovers that the letters underneath the drop
of water are bigger than the rest. He shouts with joy; I just made
a magnifying lens!”

Here the learner interacts directly with the materials in the environment. Without
any adult intervention he discovers a new idea. Hill (1192) differentiates informal
learning experiences from naturalistic learning experiences in terms of outside
intervention by a significant other. He says that at some point in a naturalistic learning
experience there is intervention by an adult of capable peer who wishes to take
advantage of an opportunity to support, clarify or extend the learning.

Informal learning experiences are not pre-planned but are initiated,

when the chance arises, by an adult. The intervention may take place for a
variety of reasons, such as an obvious need for help, recognition of
achievement or an opportunity to take advantage of a teachable moment
(Ferrer, 1996).

An example of an informal learning experience is shown below.

Jess is fishing with his father at a nearby lake. With his bow and arrow, he targets
a fish but misses it. His father tells him to try again by aiming at a direction that is slightly
off the position of the fish as he sees it from above the water.

The adult in this situation uses this teachable moment to introduce

refraction of light by capitalizing on the child’s quest to achieve his goal at that
particular time- to catch a fish with his bow and arrow. The child’s current
experience is used as starting point for the informal lesson in science.
The role of the adult in the afore-mentioned situation is to provide rich and
stimulating environment with many things to investigate first hand. The adult
can interfere at some point of the learning to ensure that the correct meaning is

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

being constructed by the child. The adult can respond with a smile or other form
of recognition to reinforce learning that is taking place.

Structured learning experiences are those associated with classroom

activities provided by an adult who is usually the teacher.

Structured learning activities are planned for and executed according to

the scheme of action in the teacher’s lesson plan. However, many of the activities
teachers carry out do not produce the intended learning outcomes. This scenario
shows that much of what students learn from structured experiences in the
classroom is often not linked to their naturalistic and informal learning
experiences gained outside the classroom. Teachers often act as if students come
to school without any knowledge of the subject matter at all and their role is to
pour in knowledge to an empty mind. The truth is, many of our students possess
prior knowledge of the things we teach them which they get from naturalistic
and informal learning experiences. This prior knowledge, according to Northfield
and Symington (1991), influences how and what students learn.
When a student is faced with a new encounter (e.g. a lesson in
photosynthesis), he/she constructs the meaning of it by connecting the new
information received with prior knowledge. Following are illustrations of possible
outcomes when a student attempts to connect a new encounter with a prior
knowledge.

Complete fit New encounter (with a

lot of similarities with
Prior prior knowledge)
knowledge

Figure 1

Figure 1 is an attempt to show diagrammatically how a new encounter fits

into what has been stored in the mind from a previous learning experience. When
the existing idea that is called upon to explain, the new encounter proves its
usefulness, the linked idea is confirmed. Prior knowledge is retained.
If there is an incomplete fit, prior knowledge is retained and the new
knowledge is not accommodated. It may also be that there are some perceived
similarities between the new experience and a prior one as in Figure 2. The linked
idea will have a complete fit only if it is slightly modified. Otherwise, the learner
will still hang on to his/her prior knowledge.

VISION MISSION
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and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Incomplete fit
New encounter

Prior
knowledge

Modified

Figure 2

Howe and Nichols (2001) point out that knowledge is built by assimilating new
ideas or experiences and accommodating or modifying old knowledge to include the new.

However, in the construction of a modified knowledge, a misunderstanding or a

misconception might occur. A misunderstanding often results from immature thinking
process, where only partial evidence has been gathered and taken into account (Harlen,
2001).

When the new encounter does not fit at all with any prior learning experience,
the information from the new encounter is abandoned (See Figure 3). There are,
however, possibilities that the knowledge gained from the new encounter may be
accommodated falsely. If the learner perceives that the information before him/ her is
important for examination purposes, then this information is accommodated in the
short-term memory. After the need for it is satisfied, it is removed from memory as if
that information is never encountered at all.

New encounter
Misfit
Prior
knowledge

Figure 3

Prior knowledge (even if it is not acceptable) co-exist with the knowledge gained
from the new encounter.
Examples to illustrate the afore-mentioned situations:

Teacher X is explaining about energy-giving foods. She tells the class that sugar
gives the body the most energy.
Student A, an athlete of the school, connects this statement with his own prior
knowledge that he acquired from his PE coach who gives his athletes glucoside before
starting any event in a competition. He knows very well that glucose is sugar. Thus,
Student A accommodates the new information given by Teacher X because it fits
completely with a prior learning experience. Prior knowledge is reinforced (Figure 1).

Student B, who is not an athlete, believes that it is rice that gives him the most
energy. From a very young age his mother always told him to eat plenty of rice to make

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

him strong Since strength is associated with energy, Student B does not see any
relationship between what the teacher says and what he believes in. He drops the
teacher’s statement and holds on to his prior knowledge that rice gives him the most
energy (Figure 3).

Student C, however, is more flexible than Student B. Although he has the same
conception as that of Student B, he accommodates the teacher’s statement because he
knows it will come out in the examination. However, he still holds on to his prior
knowledge about food which runs contrary to the new information. After taking the
examination, his prior knowledge remains and the one from the new encounter is
thrown out (Figure 3).

Student D recalls an experience just before breaking a fast. He remembers eating

dates before taking a full meal. He wonders why and tells himself that this is probably
connected with what the teacher says. Because of a limited knowledge, Student D may
not be able to generate the meaning that best explains the new encounter (Figure 2).
There is a need, therefore, to guide his knowledge construction.

It is important to scaffold thinking to promote conceptual understanding in

science.

II. Students’ Conception the Driving Force for Teaching

Understanding is an important outcome in education. It is higher form of learning

than rote acquisition of knowledge. In order to promote understanding in science,
teachers need to consider the central ideas that students bring with them to the learning
situation. The afore-mentioned discussions suggest that student conceptions can
override the knowledge being presented in class, distort new information, or co-exist
with new information. These conceptions need to be addressed in instruction so that
students will understand the lesson presented to them. Before any attempt to address
it, the teacher should assess first the kind of conceptions students bring to class. One
way to do that is through the procedure outlined as follows:
Ask the following questions.
Q1: Do the learners have experiences which are relevant to the topic on hand?
If so, how much?

Q2: How well developed are the ideas students use to describe these
experiences?

Q3: How different are these ideas from those accepted in science?

Answers to these questions may be obtained from interviews and paper-pencil

tests. Here is a sample interview taken from the Interview-about-Instances conducted
with elementary students.

VISION MISSION
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and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

I have here some picture cards. (Show at least 12 examples of food and non-food).
Select those that you think are foods and tell me why you consider them foods.

Rate the responses.

Q1 Q2 Q3

X - a little
XX - moderate
XXX - a lot

Plan learning experiences based on the ratings made for the responses on the
questions asked.

Another way to assess students’ prior knowledge is a paper- pencil test.

Responses of students to an item from a paper-pencil test shown below reveals
misconceptions about light and lenses, even after instruction.

Suppose that a candle is the only light in the room. After the candle is lit, an
image appears on the screen, as shown above. The image is upside down. If the top half
of the lens is covered what will you see on the frame?
In a study conducted by Goldberg and McDermott as reported by Grayson (1995),
they found out that 75% of the 200 high school students tested say that half of the
image would disappear, instead of realizing that the entire image will be visible but will
become dimmer. This misconception stems from the way the lesson is taught. The
typical ray diagram below that is found in most textbooks contributes to this
misconception.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

By using only two rays, the image position on the screen can easily be located.
However, this approach to locating the image formed by a lens may give the students
the impression that if half the lens is covered then half the image would vanish. This
belief would be reinforced if no experiment would be conducted. It appears that the
simplest, shortest approach may not always be the most appropriate for helping
students understand physics concepts. The two-ray approach can be misleading for
students who interpret it too literally.

Paper-pencil tests that make use of diagrams are effective in finding out
conceptions of students about physical phenomena. If administered as pre-test they can
reveal areas that need to be emphasized in teaching. If administered as post-test, they
show shortcomings of formal instruction.
Another way of finding out students’ conceptions is through the use of concept
maps. Concept mapping is rooted in constructivism which assumes that human beings
construct meanings for events and objects that occur in their experience. When a
student is asked to show relationships between concepts he/she holds, the teacher
would be able to determine the kind of understanding the student possesses about the
subject matter on hand. Following is an example of concept map drawn by a high school
student. This student was asked to show the relationships between and among these
words:

Electrons Atoms Metals

Static electricity Plastic Electric current

Electric
Metals Current

Plastic

electrons atom
s
Static
Electricity

The concept map drawn represents an inadequate understanding. Three links

unlabeled may indicate vagueness about the three pairs of concept labels while the link
between atoms and electrons is a misinterpretation of an earlier notion that ‘everything
is made of atoms.’ Changing that interpretation is an essential first step in improving
the student’s understanding of the whole set of concepts.

Students may know individual facts, but may not be fit them together. Through
the use of concept map the teacher will be able to see how students relate concepts with
one another. It is from these relationships that concepts derive their meaning.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Although concept maps serve as a useful tool to represent knowledge structures

of students, they are also found to be very useful in the identification of misconceptions
or alternative conceptions.

Misconceptions of students are generally of two types (Esler & Esler, 1993).

& Esler, 1993).

 phenomenological misconceptions
 vocabulary-based misconceptions

Phenomenological misconceptions are those associated with misinterpretation of

natural phenomena. For example, many students believe that all metals are magnetic
or that some grasses are flowering plants. Another example is the clashing model of
electric current that follows.

Even in the high school level, there are still a substantial number of students
who believe that current comes from both ends of the battery and they meet at one point
where they clash and this gives rise to the glowing of the bulb.
Vocabulary-based misconceptions are generally the result of the students’ limited
knowledge. For example, the concept of temperature is often confused with heat.
Students often believe that, if one object feels colder than another, it must be at a lower
temperature than the object it is compared with.

A block of aluminum may feel colder than a block of wood but that difference is
due to the rate at which each object is transferring heat away from the students’
hands and not because they had different temperatures.

The apparent misconception is a correct intuition that has been associated with
an incorrect physics term. The correct term is heat transfer and not temperature
difference.
Misconceptions and alternative frameworks in science can seriously affect the
students’ ability to assimilate new knowledge if not addressed in instruction. Every
science teacher, therefore, should make an attempt to find out what these conceptions
are, define them in the students own words, categorize them as they relate to natural
phenomena or vocabulary, and take steps to help students accommodate the science
concepts.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

III. How Students Learn According to Psychologists

Cognitive science research studies have produced impressive body of knowledge

about how children learn. Cognitive psychologists have been able to draw some general
conclusions of what it takes to learn effectively.

There are three principles that have grown out of cognitive science research.
1. Children develop theories about what makes sense to them.

Children construct meaning based on what they experience. As a result of several

related experiences, they develop theories about how ‘something’ works. Howard
Gardner calls such theories as part of the ‘unschooled mind’ while Resnick uses the
term ‘naïve theories’ and maintains that children use such theories to explain real-world
events before they have had any formal instruction (Science for All Children, 1997).
When their theories do not work for them anymore, they construct new ones.
The work of Jean Piaget is focused on children’s construction of knowledge
through equilibration. Equilibration is a process by which a learner compensates for a
mental dilemma and constructs new knowledge (Peters, J. and Gega, P, 2002).

2. The development of the human brain follows a predictable path.

Brain development determines the complexity of thinking possible at a given age.
Piaget’s stages of development served as basis for designing developmentally appropriate
learning activities for children.

The stage that elementary teachers is most concerned with is the concrete
operational stage (from about 7 to 12 years old). Children at this stage must have first-
hand experiences with the materials to think about them.

Jerome Bruner upheld the importance of firsthand experiences. He taught that

concrete experiences should be heavily emphasized in childhood learning. He argued
that teachers need to teach students to participate in the process that makes possible
the establishment of knowledge (Tolman, 2002).

3. Culture and social exchange are important in the knowledge development

process.

Lev Vygotsky theorized that children do not simply reproduce what is said or
shown to them but instead they undergo socially mediated cognitive constructions
(Peters, J. and Gega, P, 2002).

When children work in groups under the guidance of a capable other, such as
the teacher or more experienced peer, they could perform at higher levels than when
they work on their own.

How do Piaget and Vygotsky differ in their theories of learning?

Piaget believed in development as leading learning. Vygotsky believed otherwise.

He saw learning as leading development (Peters, J. and Gega, P, 2002).
Piaget put heavy premium on the child’s internal processes as he/she constructs
knowledge. Vygotsky, on the other hand, relied so much on the child’s interaction with
others in the process of learning concepts spontaneously and later restructuring these
same concepts into scientific concepts within his /her own cognitive structure.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Implications for Teaching and Learning of Science

The work of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner has influenced the current view of
science learning as a dynamic interaction of thought processes, skills, and attitudes
that help in the development of a richer understanding of the natural world.

Their work can also be seen in the National Science Education Standards.

Student understanding is actively constructed through individual and

social processes.

(Assumption #4 provided by NSES)

This current view of learning sees science as not just a body of knowledge but
rather a process of producing knowledge (Moyer, R, Hackett, J. and Everette, S. (2007).
Inquiry as a Process of Producing Knowledge

The process of inquiry permeates the Teaching and Learning Standards of NSES
(National Science Education Standards). It is associated with the principle, ‘Learning
science is an active process.’
There are two basic strands of inquiry which are developed at each of the three
grade levels, K - 4, 5-8 and 9-12 (Peters, J. 2006).

1. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

Grades K-4 Grades 5-8

Ask a question about objects, organisms, Identify questions that can be
and events in the answered through scientific
environment investigations
Plan and conduct a simple Design and conduct a scientific
Investigation investigation
Employ simple equipment and tools to Use appropriate tools and techniques to
gather data and extend the senses gather, analyze and interpret data
Use data to construct a reasonable Develop descriptions, explanations,
explanation predictions, and models using evidence
Think critically and logically to make the
relationships between evidence and
explanations
Recognize and analyze alternative
explanations and predictions
Communicate investigations and Communicate scientific procedures and
explanations explanations
(Source: Moyer, Hackett, and Everett (2007). Teaching Science as Investigations, p.6.)

It is important that each of the abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry be

carried on at every grade level. This means that every science activity in the classroom
should support the process of inquiry.

2. Understanding about scientific inquiry

Inquiry is a process of producing knowledge. Akin to this process is the way
scientists create new knowledge and modifying it in the light of new evidences. The
children in our classrooms should be viewed as scientists, too. To help them gain

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

competency in the process of inquiry, it is necessary to provide them with opportunities

to:

 Do science through hands-on and minds-on activities

 Appreciate ‘how we know’ what we know in science
 Use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science
Every science activity in every grade level should support scientific inquiry.
An Inquiry Learning Method

Many educators and cognitive psychologists advocate a four-stage process to

achieve inquiry learning. They are:
1. Focus: Students share their knowledge about the topic. It is at this stage where
prior knowledge is elicited.
2. Explore: Students engage in hands-on investigation and minds-on discussion of
the topic. It is important that they be provided with ample time to finish their
investigation and perform repeated trials if necessary.
3. Reflect: Students organize their results in data tables or graphs and then analyze
them to become up with explanations of the science phenomenon under
investigation. It is at stage that teachers need to guide students as they make
generalizations.
4. Apply: Students use what they have learned in real-life situations

Following are the major findings from the inquiry addendum that relate to each
of the stages in the Inquiry Learning Model. (Inquiry and the National Science Education
Standards, 2000).

1. Focus Stage

Students build new knowledge and understanding on what they already know
and believe (National Research Council, 2000, p.117). It is important for teachers to
know what their students’ prior understandings are about the topic they teach so that
they can build the necessary conceptual bridge between what their students already
know and what they ought to know.
2. Exploration Stage

Students formulate new knowledge by modifying and refining the current concepts
and by adding new concepts to what they already know (National Research Council,
2000, p.118). Research shows that students tend to change their prior knowledge when
they explore and find out for themselves that their initial ideas are no longer valid.

Learning is mediated by the social environment in which learners react with others
(National Research Council, 2000, p.118). Social constructivists, who were inspired by
Vygotsky’s work, stress the importance of social interactions in the science classroom.

3. Reflection/Explanation Stage
Effective learning requires that students take control of their own learning (National
Research Council, 2000, p.119). Students should realize that the ownership of the
learning process is theirs. Teachers step in only when students perceive a need for more
information and guidance to facilitate understanding.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

4. Application Stage

The ability to apply knowledge to novel situations, that is, transfer of learning, is
affected by the degree to which students learn with understanding (National Research
Council, 2000, p.119). Students who are successful at learning through memorization
of facts are not necessarily good at applying those facts learned to other situations or
transferring their knowledge in a different context.

Understanding science is more than knowing facts (National Research

Council, 2000, p.116).

To gain competency in the process of inquiry, students should be moved from

mere acquisition of facts to conceptual understanding to formulating generalizations
and making applications.
The Structure of Knowledge

Principle
Generalization

Concepts

Topics

Facts Facts

VISION MISSION
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and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”