Earthbound manifestations of gravity in falling objects are distorted by the large mass and size of the Earth. Movement is also affected by air resistance. This article questions whether an approach based on everyday observations is necessarily the best starting point for introducing the idea of Newtonian gravity. Instead, a theoretical approach…

This article proposes an alternative (or additional) place for the use of robotics within the secondary school curriculum. Robotics provides a unique opportunity to engage students in genuinely multidisciplinary learning that challenges their misperceptions about the nature of science/technology and engages them with 'big questions'. After…

The study and understanding of paleomagnetism has been pivotal in the development of the theory of plate tectonics. When it is taught in schools there are a number possible misconceptions that need to be addressed. This article attempts to provide an explanation of rock magnetism as well as strategies to avoid reinforcing some commonly identified…

This article considers the relationship between belief and learning science. It is argued that belief in science (as a process) needs to be distinguished from belief in particular scientific ideas and knowledge claims. Scientific knowledge is theoretical and provisional--something to be adopted for its utility, not as articles of faith. The…

Students, as well as teachers, often learn what makes sense to them, even when it is wrong. These misconceptions are a problem. The authors sought a quick, quantitative way of identifying student misconceptions in secondary science. Using the University of Toronto's National Biology Competition test data, this article presents a method of quickly…

After seeing several reports in newspapers making claims about the cause of death after children had swallowed button batteries, a team of students decided to try to establish which (if any) claims were true. The findings were reported in the Schools Exhibition at the ASE Annual Conference 2018 in Liverpool and are shared in detail here. (A…

Using a conventional notation for representing forces on diagrams, students were presented with questions on the interaction between two objects. The results show that complete understanding of Newton's Third Law of Motion is quite rare, and that some problems relate to misunderstanding which force acts on each body. The use of the terms…

In the context of what are often highly compartmentalised curriculum requirements, this article considers the cyclical nature of the acquisition and transfer of knowledge in the education system in relation to those questions that transcend individual subjects as set out in traditional curriculum divisions. It also considers the detrimental…

The ever-increasing amount of biological knowledge has resulted in compression of topics in the curriculum to a précis of current understanding. This gives the impression that biology is about a list of things we know. This misconception is extremely damaging, contributing to the idea that science is an impersonal process that generates facts,…

I argue that students want to see relevance in their studies. The National Curriculum in England is a list of concepts that we wish them to understand. However, the concepts need to be embedded into a meaningful context, such as climate change, which may become the overarching reason for teaching science. In this article I remember fondly…

Physics is a subject where pupils hold a great number of deeply seated misconceptions. Sound is a prime example, as it requires the visualisation of a form of energy that moves imperceptibly through an invisible medium. This article outlines some of the common misconceptions that pupils hold regarding the nature of sound and how it is transmitted,…

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"…

This article demonstrates one particular difficulty of interpreting students' use of language in science classrooms: determining whether a student's writing indicates a misconception or a misrepresentation. Students' written assignments from a case study are used to illustrate instances where multiple interpretations are possible. These examples…

Revision can be a rather dull part of the academic year, especially if it means the wholesale revisiting of the syllabus using the same old notes. This article presents an attempt at using the "biography" of an element to give an alternative framework for recapping some of the key concepts in a typical A-level chemistry syllabus. It does…

This study investigated the level of understanding among student teachers in differentiating lepidopterans. It adopted a constructive approach to promoting conceptual change in students on the issue of animal classification by generating cognitive conflict. Most of the students used inaccurate morphological traits for identification, such as wing…