1Third Misconceptions Seminar Proceedings (1993) Paper Title: The Origin of Earth and Space Science Misconceptions: A Survey of Pre- Service Elementary Teachers

Abstract: Understanding how misconceptions are formed can make it easier for classroom teachers to help their students uncover and overcome their misconceptions. Teachers, however, cannot be expected to help children uncover misconceptions if they hold these misconceptions themselves. This study attempts to discover which common misconceptions are held by pre-service elementary teachers and to what they attribute these misconceptions. A questionnaire containing several common earth and space science misconceptions was administered to 97 pre-service elementary teachers. A discussion of the concepts on the questionnaire followed during which participants were asked to reflect on their “incorrect” responses. Results from the survey are compared to an earlier cross-age survey conducted by the author in which the same questions were asked. The study suggests that many misconceptions originate in the classroom and that pre-service elementary education teachers have many of the same misconceptions that their future students will have