When it comes to misconceptions, I really like how the researchers approached the subjects in the video tutorial. They were asking questions like "Where'd that come from?" and "How did you know that?" They were allowing the children to explain their theories without interruption or correction. I predict that if the tutorial had continued on the with the same teacher and students, the teacher would have challenged the students to make sense of their theories through experimentation (that's what I would have done, and what was demonstrated by the blood soup activity for the heart). Having been a "gifted" student myself, I can recall being reprimanded by my teachers and parents for "over-thinking" things and making them more difficult and complicated than they should have been. What my teachers and parents didn't understand was that my "complicated" way of thinking was the way that made the most sense to me in the context of my life and knowledge. For kids to make sense of things, they have to be able to fit an idea/theory into the world that they know best. For several of the kids in the video, it made sense to draw some of the veins blue because that's what they see in diagrams (including the one right behind them) and under their own skin. One of the most interesting parts of this tutorial for me was how many different explanations were given for the reasoning behind the blue veins. (http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/smgphp/mosart/Tutorial.html?action=mis&type=text)
I like how the tutorial labels the students' theories as preconceptions, rather than misconceptions. I agree that misconception implies some sort of incorrect knowledge or thinking. On the other hand, preconceptions implies that there is knowledge the child has yet to learn in order the shape their ideas or theories about a certain topic. In this way, even if the child has a preconception about something (say that blood contains Helium), they'll be able to amend that theory once they've explored the components of blood further.
** Fun fact: We make blood soup in some of our children's programming at work!**
I like how the tutorial labels the students' theories as preconceptions, rather than misconceptions. I agree that misconception implies some sort of incorrect knowledge or thinking. On the other hand, preconceptions implies that there is knowledge the child has yet to learn in order the shape their ideas or theories about a certain topic. In this way, even if the child has a preconception about something (say that blood contains Helium), they'll be able to amend that theory once they've explored the components of blood further.
** Fun fact: We make blood soup in some of our children's programming at work!**
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