Common Earth science misconceptions in science teaching
Issue 347 | Page 45 | Published Dec 2012
Description
A survey of the Earth science content of science textbooks found a wide range of misconceptions. These are discussed in this article with reference to the published literature on Earth science misconceptions. Most misconceptions occurred in the'sedimentary rocks and processes' and'Earth's structure and plate tectonics' categories, the most common are listed and reviewed. The prevalence of misconceptions in science textbooks is of concern as evidence indicates that many UK teachers of Earth science rely on school textbooks for their teaching. Reference to this article, Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU) workshops and the Earthlearningidea (ELI) website may help teachers to address such misconceptions in the future
More from this issue
As teachers, we often explain biological phenomena as a'given' and omit seeking evidence to support our assertions.
The Earth's primary atmosphere, which was similar to that of the gas giant planets, was soon lost, and a secondary atmosphere was established...