This searchable database of students’ science misconceptions is derived from many empirical and anecdotal studies. Teachers might consult the database to see what ideas students are likely to have before beginning a lesson and perhaps adjust instruction as a result. Others might consult the database to see what areas of science have been neglected in the research or to consider updating older studies.
The broad fields of science covered include:
- Biological and Life Science
- Chemistry and Physical Chemistry Science
- Earth and Space Science
- History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science
- Physics and Physical Science
How to Use SCIMAP
Addressing misconceptions is important to make teaching and learning effective. The SCIMAP project has various benefits for the teachers in making it easier to determine what likely misconceptions students might have before designing and teaching the science lesson. For instance, before teaching a lesson on respiration, a teacher can search for alternative ideas about respiration in the database.
- A teacher can open the SCIMAP database.
- Enter the content to be taught in the Search field.
- The database includes numerous published misconceptions found in a variety of empirical and anecdotal studies.
- The database links misconceptions from the various age level.
- The database has a link that will connect to the original article.
- Some articles would be good resources for addressing students’ misconceptions.
One interesting thing about this database is that several articles may address misconceptions about a topic, so teachers can review all relevant references to discover the range of alternative ideas about the topic and perhaps construct a pretest for students before instruction begins. The database also provides an idea about science areas that have not yet been investigated and thus would be interesting for future research.