| What’s in their heads: how can we find out about students’ conceptions in science? |
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Research taster
How do you know what your students are thinking when they come to a new science topic? It seems that students often have ideas of their own, but not necessarily scientific ones. These ideas help to show where students are starting from when they encounter core science phenomena such as electric circuits and plant nutrition. 
Your evidence
Would it be helpful to consider the questions you pose – both oral and written – in your science lessons? You may find it useful to record your lesson – or part of it – or have a colleague observe for you. What are the relative proportions of your questions requiring factual recall to questions that ask students to explain their answers? Do your students give scientifically acceptable answers or ‘everyday’ ones they have picked up? You may like to focus on one lesson and draw up your responses in a table under the headings:
Moving forward
Would it be possible to turn your factual questions into ones that probe students’ understanding more deeply? Could you do this by asking them to select a scientifically accurate explanation from a set of possible answers so that you can see if their reasoning matches their response? For example could you create a probe based on readings on two ammeters at different points in a simple series circuit: ‘What can you say about the readings on the two ammeters?’ followed by a number of explanations students can choose from? Would presenting your students with a number of similarly-structured problems on the same theme enable you to see how consistent your students’ science conceptions are?
 Find out moreTo find out more about exploring students’ ideas of science, using diagnostic probes, read about the Towards Evidence-Based Practice in Science Education (2000-2003) project. It is accessible at: http://www.tlrp.org/proj/phase1/phase1bsept.html To find out how teachers and researchers developed and used diagnostic probes in science read Using diagnostic assessment to improve students’ learning in science: Some preliminary findings from work to develop and test diagnostic tools which is accessible at: http://www.tlrp.org/dspace/retrieve/779/ESERA2001_P1.pdf To read how teachers designed and implemented diagnostic probes in science see teacher research report The Use of ‘Diagnostic Probes’ to Aid Teaching and Learning in Science http://www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/pdf/t/tta99-03.pdf |
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