True or False

Misconceptions

A misconception is a view or opinion that is incorrect because it is based on faulty thinking or understanding. When you are younger you tend to make  the reasoning behind things that you don't understand up based on television, media, or previous knowledge etc., which may not always be correct. In class we were to list misconceptions and then the real facts about different topics such as: the zoo, dinosaurs, rocks and minerals, solar systems, and desert animals. My group had the rocks and minerals topic and my misconceptions were, all rocks are gray and that all minerals are diamonds. Doing this activity made me realize that I was not the only one who had false beliefs when I was younger and that there are so many different ways that children can mistake the truth. One misconception that really stuck out to me was, dinosaurs and friendly and talk. One student thought this from watching a children's show about dinosaurs who spoke and were nice so he thought dinosaurs in the past were like this too. Some more common misconceptions that elementary students have about life can be found in this link. It is important to realize that students will have many misconceptions that may seem a little silly to someone who already knows the truth, but as a future teacher you should never make fun of a student for thinking something. However, you should correct their misconceptions so that they know the correct information and the truth about topics. There are many different ways to do this. For example, have students read books about that topic, watch videos, or play games etc. It is important to remember to reassure students to ask questions about things they are unsure about because we are learning little by little each day and it is okay not to know everything about everything.