Addressing Common Misconceptions

This article addresses a common student misconception regarding why we have seasons. Using anomalous data, students engage in an activity that enables them to understand what causes the sea... See More

This article addresses a common student misconception regarding why we have seasons. Using anomalous data, students engage in an activity that enables them to understand what causes the seasons and identify seasonal trends. I really like how the author integrates geography into the lesson. The article defines all key terms, clearly outlines the lesson, and provides excellent visual aids. This is an excellent lesson for addressing student misconceptions about the seasons.

Anomalous Data

The activity described in this article is an inquiry based activity that provides anomalous temperature data to challenges a student’s misconception about the reason for seasons. The autho... See More

The activity described in this article is an inquiry based activity that provides anomalous temperature data to challenges a student’s misconception about the reason for seasons. The author describes research that presents the seven steps of the instructional strategy of providing data that is inconsistent with student’s beliefs and theories. The whole activity is presented. It would be interesting to reproduce this activity and try this type of learning out to see how middle school students would do.