Student Preconceptions Research Articles

A qualitative study examining medical students′ expectations of psychiatric inpatient and intensive care settings

Background There is limited literature to date regarding medical students’ expectations of the psychiatric inpatient environment. This study aims to explore what medical students expect from psychiatric wards and psychiatric intensive care units prior to their placement. Psychiatric intensive care, arguably the most intense experience students will have in psychiatry, was used to highlight the full extent of student preconceptions. Methodology: Students were invited to complete a semi-structured questionnaire over a six-month period, from July to December 2021. Questions explored emotions prior to placement, expectations of the ward atmosphere, layout, patient behaviour and care strategies. 37 responses were received. Analysis followed the well-recognised six stages of thematic analysis. Results: Five themes emerged from the data: (1) Mixed feelings about placement; (2) Varied views about patient behaviour and illness; (3) Restrictive and controlled practice; (4) Similarities to acute general hospital care; (5) Care with empathy and compassion. Some of the expectations of students were markedly different to the reality of psychiatric inpatient and intensive care settings, with ideas of patients being physically restrained, unconscious and attached to ventilators. Conclusion: This study offers a unique insight into what medical students expect from psychiatry inpatient and intensive care settings, an issue that all clinicians who have student contact should be aware of. Results can better inform student preparation and placement supervision, leading to more meaningful learning and improved wellbeing.

Implicit assumptions of (prospective) music school teachers about musically gifted students

Stereotypical assumptions associating high levels of giftedness and outstanding performance with maladaptive behavioral characteristics and personality traits (cf. disharmony stereotype) are rather prevalent in the school context as well as in the musical domain. Such preconceptions among teachers can influence student assessment and corresponding performance expectations, which might, in turn, impact future lesson planning. In an experiment using a controlled vignette approach, the current study, with N = 211 (prospective) German music school teachers, investigated how background information, combined with a manipulated music recording, affected (prospective) music school teachers’ assessment of a fictive student’s performance, behavioral characteristics, personality traits, and teachers' consequential lesson planning. Experimental variations included the fictive student’s supposed level of giftedness, social interaction, age, and duration of instrumental lessons. Results indicated that music school teachers’ preconceptions of students assumed to be musically gifted were a high level of intellectual and musical abilities with behavioral characteristics and personality traits rated at least equivalent to those of students assumed to have average giftedness. Teachers’ lesson planning was not influenced by any of the manipulated background information. Taken together, the observed pattern of effects contradicts the disharmony stereotype but tends to align more with the harmony stereotype as music school teachers’ prevailing preconceptions about students supposed to be musically gifted.

“I can’t Breathe”: a Delphi study of the proverbial knee on the neck of African American male students

ABSTRACT The plight of African American males continues throughout America and is prevalent in its educational system. Not only are these students negatively impacted by low expectations of their non-African American teachers; policy makers are impeded from devising effective strategies to improve their academic achievement. This qualitative Delphi study explored teacher preconceptions of African American male students to determine the connection between teacher expectations and the academic achievement of these students. Moral exclusion and critical race theory provided the conceptual framework. The findings of the study revealed several perceived preconceptions that included the teacher belief that these students did not care to achieve a quality education. The results provided recommendations to improve the school experience of African American male students by increasing the cultural competence of educators. While the primary recommendation was for teachers to be trained in cultural awareness and diversity; this issue proves to not be an easy fix.

The determination of the learning curve on the concept of energy using the alternatives ideas

In this study, alternative ideas of energy were evaluated for five different age groups. Research participants included primary school, middle school, and high school students, students of the department of primary education, and active teachers in primary education. The same questionnaire was used in all groups, indicating that age-related differences exist between answers. The sigmoid curve, which represents energy learning, is obtained by analyzing correct answers according to age. Correlations between age and all questions were statistically significant. An engaging perspective is imparted on energy education. According to our findings, misconceptions and preconceptions of students and teachers diminish with age or, more accurately, with educational attainment. In addition to improving science teaching classrooms and curriculum design, the results of our study may also benefit teachers’ professional growth.

An Action Research Study on Teaching the Landform Concepts in a Fifth Grade Social Studies Course

This study aims to find out the effect of activities and practices on concept education to help carry out activities to teach these concepts more effectively and permanently, and determine student preconceptions about the concepts related to the landforms in the 5th-grade social studies curriculum in the learning subdomain called “People, Places and Environments.” It was conducted as an action research study, employing a qualitative research design. The participants of the study were 16 fifth graders who were studying at a state secondary school in Bekilli District of the province of Denizli, Turkey. Mind maps, worksheet activities, models and mock-up, focus group interviews and field notes were used as the data collection tools, concept development tools, and process support tools. Collected in four class hours, the data were subjected to statement-based content analysis, and then compared with the criteria developed for the related concept and converted into findings and conclusions. The findings indicate that the student group has a partial preliminary knowledge and perception of the distinctive landforms they see around them. However, the student group's preliminary knowledge and perception of the landforms they do not observe around them is insufficient. The results obtained at the end of the instructional intervention process indicate that the student group is confused about the definitions of the bay, gulf, cape, peninsula, island, strait, and ocean. With the activities implemented after the additional action plan, the student group made progress by effectively learning the basic and sub-dimensional landforms they were confused about. The student group found it useful to carry out mind maps and application activities and achieved effective learning with models and mock-ups. Based on research result, use of sightseeing –observation techniques can be recommended to social studies teachers.

Student preconceptions of sex differences in animal behaviour classes: observations, recommendations and need for research

• Preconceptions can bias study design, data interpretation and student learning. • Observations suggest biases in undergraduate interpretation of sex differences. • Recommendations are given for directly engaging with student preconceptions. • Considerations for future pedagogical research are outlined.

Young People’s Pre-Conceptions of the Interactions between Climate Change and Soils – Looking at a Physical Geography Topic from a Climate Change Education Perspective

The interactions of climate change and soils (ICCS) are scarcely examined in Climate Change Education (CCE). Analyzing the pre-conceptions of secondary school students (n = 421) reveals a high number of missing answers (48.2%), while residual participants responded with either medium (33.3%) or low (11.5%) complexity levels. The natural and the human sphere are scarcely interconnected and mentioned positive feedback effects indicate students’ spatial distance to the ICCS that occur in Alpine regions. In order to bridge these gaps with more elaborated and regional concepts, a careful consideration of ICCS content is urgently recommended for CCE.

Using Information Search Strategy to Reconstruct Students' Biology Prior Knowledge

This study aimed to determine changes in students' prior knowledge of preconception reconstruction results using information-seeking strategies in learning. A total of 26 student-teacher candidates at an Islamic university in Surabaya, East Java, were involved voluntarily in this survey research. At the beginning of the lecture, students take part in the pre-test, learning using information searching strategies for seven weeks, and post-test at the end of the lecture. Data analysis was performed using content analysis and t-test understanding analysis to determine changes in student preconceptions. The results showed that there were very significant differences in students' understanding of science due to conceptual changes after learning using information searching strategies. The percentage of students who maintained correct preconceptions was greater than those with incorrect preconceptions. That is what changes the preconception from false to true. The implication is that information searching can help students make decisions to maintain or change their preconceptions.

Pre-service Teachers’ Perception of Competence, Social Relatedness, and Autonomy in a Flipped Classroom: Effects on Learning to Notice Student Preconceptions

ABSTRACT Science teachers should be able to notice student preconceptions in order to adapt instructions to their students’ needs and support the learning process. Noticing as a core practice of teaching should thus be implemented early in science teacher education. A crucial prerequisite for noticing is knowledge about students’ preconceptions, which is an important element of science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. To enhance pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, flipped classroom approaches seem especially promising as they combine a theoretical introduction to important didactic concepts with a direct application of these concepts in profession-oriented learning tasks. Furthermore, flipped classrooms seem to satisfy the three basic personal needs of experience in competence, social relatedness, and autonomy according to the self-determination theory of motivation, thus enhancing learning. This intervention study investigates the effect of a course on physics didactics designed according to the flipped classroom approach on pre-service teachers’ (N = 87) learning to notice student preconceptions. Specifically, we analyzed how pre-service teachers’ perception of competence, social relatedness, and autonomy during course participation related to their noticing abilities. We found a significant increase (d = 0.40) in PSTs’ noticing abilities, operationalized as absolute number of recognized preconceptions between pre- and posttest. However, this increase was not mediated by PSTs’ perception of competence, social relatedness, and autonomy.

Embodiment and mindful learning: Engaging the mind and body to dispel vulnerability

Some students enter a classroom with the expectation that learning is a passive exercise. My purpose as a professor, however, is not to lecture my students, but to equip them with creative tools to discover their own ideas and express them through movement/body. My teaching method, as a trained dancer/choreographer, while accepted in a dance-focused class may be quite different from what students expect in a general education course. Do I need to check my teaching methods at the classroom door to accommodate student preconceptions? One semester in particular caused me to pause, reflect, and work to develop a deeper understanding of how preconceptions from students may affect the learning in a course. This essay explores my adaptation of the models of ‘small teaching’ (Lang 2016) and my version of flipping the classroom to narrow disconnect between my general education students and me.

Researching and Teaching Scientology

The academic study of Scientology (most often meant to mean the Church of Scientology) is complicated by a problematical inherited discourse between media, academics (and their students) and the Church of Scientology. In this short reflection piece, it is argued that this discourse should be understood within a wider context of attitudes to the study of New Religions within the academy, and the impact of CoS engagement with mainstream media. Additionally, it is argued that the preconceptions of both students and CoS representatives reflect these discourses, which in-turn impact not only upon research and teaching about Scientology, but also upon public projections of religious identity by the CoS. Referencing recent frameworks of Lived/Represented/Reported Religion, the article suggests that the study of diverse and everyday Scientology may offer a fruitful approach to future scholarship.

Analisis Miskonsepsi Siswa Kelas XI IPA 1 SMA Negeri 1 Ma’rang Pada Materi Pokok Laju Reaksi

This descriptive research aims to analyze level and cause of student’s misconceptions on reaction rate topic. The subjects in research are 27 students of Grade XI IPA 1 students of SMAN 1 Ma'rang. The instruments are used in this experiment are essay test, observation sheet and semi-guided interviews. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistic method to obtain percentage of the misconception. The results showed that students’ misconception occurs in some of the sub concepts of reaction rate material. Percentages and categories of students’misconceptions on understanding the reaction rate, the factors that affect the rate of reaction , and the reaction order , are respectively 15 % is included in the low category , 18.7 % , including in the low category , and 15 % are included in the low category . Overall average student misconceptions on the material that is the reaction rate of 16.2 %. This shows that the misconception on the material reaction rate is low. The results also show that the misconception is caused by: 1) Students, the student preconceptions wrong, 2) Master, which does not provide an explanation in detail to the concept.

How to Teach the Electromagnetic Spectrum with Superheroes

The success of films such as “Avengers: Endgame,” “Black Panther,” and “Captain Marvel” has established the superhero genre in modern popular culture. Many students will have seen these films, or at the very least they are familiar with a number of the superhero characters. In the physics classroom, content based on superheroes can be used in support of learning materials on topics such as optics, advanced materials, kinematics, and the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Studies have highlighted several student preconceptions with regards to different radiation types. For instance, the literature suggests that students incorrectly classify certain radiation types as unnatural, and they cannot differentiate between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

Interpretations of cosmic expansion: anchoring conceptions and misconceptions

Teaching cosmology at the undergraduate or high school level requires simplifications and analogies, and inevitably brings the teacher into contact with at least one of the pedagogical interpretations of the expanding Universe. The by far most popular interpretation holds that galaxies in an expanding Universe are stationary, while space itself expands and thus causes the growing distances that characterize cosmic expansion. The alternative relativistic explosion interpretation regards cosmic expansion as a pattern of (relativistic) galaxy motion. The aim of this article is to discuss the two competing interpretations from the perspective of potential student preconceptions, taking into account both beneficial anchoring conceptions and potentially harmful preconceptions that can lead to misconceptions.

Sales Student Preconceptions and a Novel Approach to Sales Curriculum Mapping: Insights, Implications, and Application for Sales Educators

It is widely known that students have preconceptions regarding salespeople and that these preconceptions are modified by participation in sales classes. It is also known that experiential sales class activities are more effective at increasing student interest in pursuing a sales career than traditional lecture style lessons. Less explored is the source of student preconceptions regarding sales and an associated model to explain the observed classroom pedagogy phenomena. Moreover, despite the focus on measuring student attitudes toward sales, there is limited research that presents practical methods for sales educators to introduce sales concepts to students. To address this knowledge gap, this article presents the findings from a quantitative analysis of student experiences regarding sales, a model for interpreting these experiences as it relates to sales career interest, and a novel process for developing the introductory and advanced sales classes at a large metropolitan university.

The preliminary study of the application of the conceptual change laboratory (CC-Lab) for overcoming high school students misconception related to the concept of floating, drifting and sinking

This preliminary study was conducted to get an overview of the effects of applying the CC-Lab model to conceptual changes of high school students related to the concept of floating, drifting and sinking. The CC-Lab consists of four main activity stages of Lab, namely: 1) the stage of identifying student preconceptions, 2) the stage of conception confronting Lab, 3) the stage of conceptual Lab, and 4) the Stage of identifying the final conception of the student. A pre-experiment method with one group pretest-posttest design was used in this research. There are 37 students consisting of 22 female students and 15 male students, in one of the high schools in the West Bandung district of West Java province. Lab activities are carried out cooperatively in small groups. The instrument used to collect data is a conception test in the four tier test format related to the concept of floating, drifting and sinking. The results showed that before the application of the CC-Lab, the number of students in each conception category were: scientific conception (10%), misconception (62%), and no conception (28%), while after the activity of CC-Lab, the number of students in each category of conception became: scientific conception (82%), misconception (12%), and no conception (6%). These results indicate that the implementation of the CC-Lab model has a high effectiveness in remediating the misconceptions that occur among high school students regarding the concept of floating, drifting and sinking.

The Effectiveness of STEM Education for Overcoming Students’ Misconceptions in High School Physics: Engineering Viewpoint

In the present study, an experimental teaching material using a soundcard oscilloscope developed for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education considering the engineering viewpoint was applied to address student’s misconceptions in the alternating current (AC) circuit topic in high school physics. Four experiments were conducted, and 13 conceptual understanding questions were used to explore the concept of the AC circuit among 192 secondary school students in Indonesia. This study concluded that the STEM system used in this study was considered to be useful to overcome the various misconceptions in high school physics. As a result of this study, it is recommended that more researchers should find, create, develop, and implement more teaching materials that support the understanding of students in AC circuits as well as the other parts of physics. Deeper investigations into the pre-conceptions of students would be another area of research that this study identified as an area of the focus needed in investigating cases of misconceptions.

The Mirror’s Edge: Creating a Dynamic Games Course That Reflects Industry Practices and Manages Student Expectations

Industry simulation is an essential part of an undergraduate games student’s education. It has been outlined by The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) as essential to developing graduate skills for the workplace. This paper highlights the importance of simulating industry practices within a games degree program, bringing attention to the need for cross-course collaboration and to provide a dynamic environment that reflects industry practice. This paper presents a case-study highlighting methods for maintaining student engagement and enhancing project management skills, as well as showcasing techniques for managing student expectations and preconceptions of their individual responsibilities. The study focused on providing small-scale projects, where students worked in cross-course multidisciplinary teams of between eight and twelve students. Academic staff have acted as executive producers for each student team, reinforcing the professional context of the project. The module has used a live-brief provided by a games industry professional or an external competition, which allowed for creative interpretation by students and challenging them from a game design perspective. The conclusion of this study shows that including cross-course collaboration between students and providing a structure mirroring industry practices has been essential in preparing students for a games industry career.

Conceptual Modeling Education as a “Design Problem”

This article frames Conceptual Modeling education as a design problem, in the sense of the Design Science research framework, motivated by student preconceptions and oversimplifications causing a gap between how the discipline is perceived at the bachelor level and the holistic understanding of model value that is required for research work. The treatment to this design problem must comprise teaching approaches and artifacts capable of positioning Conceptual Modeling as a standalone discipline having a value proposition for any application domain, rather than a technique subordinated to other disciplines. The underpinning thesis is that modeling languages should be primarily understood as purposeful knowledge schemas that can be subjected to agile adaptations in support of model-driven systems or knowledge processes, by analogy to how a database schema is evolved in response to changing requirements of a data-driven system or data analytics needs. This thesis is supported by enablers provided by the Open Models Laboratory and the Agile Modeling Method Engineering framework – resources that support the development of treatments to the design problem framed by the article.

Teaching kinematic graphs in an undergraduate course using an active methodology mediated by video analysis

This work address the preconceptions of first year engineering students about the kinematic graphs and the outcomes of a pedagogical strategy that relies on Predict – Observe – Explain learning method mediated by a video analysis software. The whole learning procedure was accompanied by a written material as students’ worksheets which enabled a formal record of the students’ conceptions throughout the process. The Test of Understanding of Kinematics Graphs was utilized to evaluate the students’ preconceptions and learning gains. It was found that first year engineering students had serious difficulties in drawing and interpreting kinematic graphs. Although interpretation of graphs and the understanding of the velocity and acceleration concepts improved, the preconceptions were quite resilient.