Misconceptions In Middle Schools

In Georgia, sixth graders enter middle school with little information about astronomy they learned from fourth grade. Students come to school with misconceptions they have made from previous knowledge or exposure to other resources. A teacher is supposed to address these misconceptions the students have and to change their perception. For the subject of astronomy, there are many misconceptions the students have when studying modeling. Within the Moving Students Toward a More Accurate View of the Solar System, in Science Scope, the teacher addresses these misconceptions by teaching models in a new way. Instead of the traditionally with separate models for the solar system and moons, the teacher integrated both models together through small group collaboration of creating their own model, personal observation of the sun and moon throughout 2 weeks, simulations of gravity and orbits, and analyzing and classifying galaxies through Galaxy Zoo. I could see myself integrating this …show more content…
I really like that it has different aspects that go with my teaching philosophy. I believe students learn best with other people in small group collaboration. I believe students are more engaged and learn more through technology. Finally, I believe students are more engaged when there is real life application and meaning behind learning. This unit integrates all aspects throughout the lessons. To take this unit to the next level, there were two things I would like to integrate: “is Pluto a planet?” and “is there life outside of our solar system?” To address the first question, I would have the students research the controversy of the dwarf planet. I would set up the research with small groups and teacher selected website as a webquest. Each student in the group will have a job