Building on students' existing understandings

last updated:August 2009

This case study shows how teachers built on KS3 pupils’ existing knowledge and understanding to develop their thinking in relation to science concepts – in particular their misconceptions of particle theory. The study involved Year 6 and 7 teachers and their classes.

The teacher-researcher (who was also KS3 co-ordinator) focused on particle theory because it is an abstract concept; pupils have common misconceptions about particles because they cannot see them. She believed that if pupils are to understand the abstract concept of particle theory at KS3 their ideas about states of matter and dissolving must be more concrete at KS2, and they must be using keywords appropriately in order to build up a more complex vocabulary.
 
How did the teachers find out what the pupils knew already?
The teacher-researcher collected a variety of data to find out what the Year 6 pupils had already learned and understood, including:

• a questionnaire that asked them to comment on their feelings and opinions of science. Comparing their results to those of a group of Year 7 pupils suggested their enthusiasm for science tailed off during Year 7
• a test that measured their understanding of particle behaviour in phenomena they were likely to meet in Year 7, and
• interviews with the pupils to determine their use of keywords in describing what happens to particles during melting, evaporating, freezing and dissolving.

The primary school teachers observed secondary science lessons about particles in order to find out how pupils’ ideas developed as they met more complex phenomena. They noticed that pupils struggled to use keywords which were taught at KS2 and concluded that they needed to focus more deeply on keywords at KS2. Secondary school teachers also visited the primary school for half a day of lesson observations to find out more about teaching and learning strategies used there.

What ideas did pupils come up with?
The Year 6 pupils’ ability to explain phenomena using the particle idea varied:

• Pupils thought particles had popped, melted or disappeared when a solid melted (this accounted for 70% of the pupils interviewed).
• When a metal ball was heated, pupils thought the particles moved to the sides of the ball as the ball expanded or the particles themselves expand.
• Most correctly drew and attempted to explain what happened to particles as sugar or salt dissolved.

Unlike the pupils in Year 6, the Year 7 pupils incorrectly drew sugar dissolving or used the wrong terminology in their explanations, suggesting a weak link between concept and keywords.
 
What activity did the teachers organise to help develop the pupils’ understanding?
The teachers planned an investigation for Year 6 pupils that aimed to find the melting point of chocolate and to explain the melting using the particle idea. (Explanations using the particle idea are a key part of KS3 science and represent a continuous and logical development from KS2).

Working with talk partners, pupils were encouraged to use a number of strategies including:

• a 'washing line' of terms
• card organising to make an explanation
• trump cards based on terminology, and
• modelling.

The activity took place over a number of lessons in both the primary and secondary schools (the latter gave pupils access to more sophisticated apparatus), covering:

• pupils’ recall of the properties of solids and liquids, modelling predictions and planning their investigation
• pupils carrying out the practical work, evaluating it and learning about accuracy and reliability
• pupils attempting to describe melting in terms of particles arrangement, and reviewing their initial ideas, and
• pupils presenting what they had learned, ensuring correct use of keywords.

How did pupils benefit?

The teachers reported how the pupils made excellent presentations to explain what happens to chocolate at its melting point. Pupils used their bodies to model particles vibrating and moving apart and used accurate terminology to describe the process. Some pupils made physical models out of paper and card. The teachers also reported an improvement in the scientific accuracy of pupils’ explanations although heating a metal ball and the effect of heat on an aerosol can were not so well understood.

Most pupils’ ideas about particles had changed, for example ‘I can explain melting and freezing better’ or ‘I know that particles vibrate more when heated in a solid’. Pupils learned new keywords, such as, ‘accuracy’, ‘reliability’, ‘vibrate’ and ‘collide’ and around half felt confident to explain these words or use them in a sentence. When presented with a concept cartoon in which the four pupils in the sheet had their own ideas of what happens to chocolate as it melts nearly all the pupils were able to identify the misconceptions and correct the statements.
 
What did the teachers learn about curriculum planning from working with each other?
The secondary teachers found the primary school strategies for discussion helpful and planned to use them in their Year 7 lessons. These strategies included: talk partners, discussion starters, sentence starters for speaking and the differentiated card sorting activities. They also felt more aware of pupil misconceptions as they entered Year 7 and proposed questioning pupils’ understanding of a topic beforehand to elicit misconceptions. The primary teachers planned to spend more time on developing abstract concepts and challenging pupils more, especially with regard to applying terminology about a concept.

Reference
Leyla Di-Bellonia 
Eliciting children’s misconceptions of particle theory to support their literacy development in science
Gatsby Teacher Fellowship report