Young children frequently have weird and wonderful ideas when they start school about how the world works, and these can be difficult to dislodge. Teachers often face an uphill struggle trying to convince them that the sun doesn’t turn into the moon at night or that stones don’t grow.
A survey of more than 120 teachers of infant science reveals a panoply of misconceptions that are frequently held by children up to the age of seven. Among these are beliefs that larger objects weigh more than smaller ones and that taller people are older than shorter people.
So strong are these ideas in children’s minds that it’s not unusual for them to cling on to them, even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Experiments in class that contradict their theories may be ignored or even reinterpreted to support their own beliefs.
The teachers in the survey considered that more than a quarter of science topics at key stage 1 were difficult for pupils, demonstrating a clear need to help children unlearn homespun ideas.
Resarch paper presented at the British Psychological Society Developmental Section Conference by Dr Karen Pine, University of Hertfordshire, 01707 28512
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