‘I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand’ Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC, online)

Being a mum of four and speaking from experience, it is important to understand and accept that children create their own meanings of particular scientific concepts at a very age in their life, concepts to which they have no apparent answers. Driver et al (1985) cited in Littledyke (2000) supports this by saying that’ even before encountering formal school science, children have constructed their own ideas of how the world works’. (p.46)

As they become older and gain more experiences their conceptions may be challenged and they need to rethink about their ideas regarding science. Unless these children (and sometimes adults) explore and experiment for themselves, they will not be able to elicit their previous misconceptions about certain concepts. Therefore Effective science teaching should take account of these ideas and provides activities which enable pupils to make the journey from their current understandings to a more scientific view (Driver et al. 1994, p.1).Keeping this in mind, this assignment will investigate the misconceptions of 6 children in Year 5, regarding Forces and in particular sinking and floating.

 Science may be seen by many as being a search for truths, a mean of discovering new ideas and theories associated with reality. The constructivist theory claims that through the varying senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste we learn about physical phenomena. With these messages from the senses the individual is able to understand and build a picture of the world. (Lorsbach & Tobin 1990)

Bruner (1966) believed the constructivist theory was a general framework for instruction based upon Piaget’s theory of cognition. He believed that the active process of learning was allowing pupils to construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current or past knowledge. By selecting  the information  and then making a meaning out of this given information, the learner is able to construct hypotheses, make decisions, thus enabling  the individual to look at their previous ideas in new light and enabling them  ‘to go beyond the information given’ (Bruner. online)

Dyson and Gates (1987) agree with the constructivist view of learning by recognizing pupils as active learners, already holding ideas regarding natural phenomena which, they use in their everyday lives in order to make sense of the day-to-day experiences. They also state that children do not come into the classroom as empty vessels waiting to be filled, they come with existing ideas that they have already gained from previous education and the world around them.  Harlen (2000) states:

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‘Building understanding has to begin with the objects and events familiar to them. From the ideas used in understanding specific aspects of their environment (‘small ‘Ideas) more widely applicable ones (‘big ‘ideas) are created…’ (p.13)

Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning as cited in Johnston (1996) has formed the basis for much recent research into how children learn the importance of their early ideas as the basis for future conceptual development (p.24).

Forces is a difficult area of science to explain to a young child, because according to Wenham (2005, p200)Scientists cannot say what forces are, only what they do, so ...

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