From Misconceptions to Constructed Understanding • Page 1 From Misconceptions to Constructed Understanding The Fourth International Seminar on Misconceptions Research (1997) Article Title: Is There a Need To Go Beyond Sense Making? A

Abstract: From personal reflections about the transition from teacher-as-expert to teacher-as-sense-maker, sense-making emerges as a precursor to misconceptions. The author as a veteran teacher of 20 years of 7th through 12th grade science and mathematics, and now a student of teacher education, explores constructivism, conceptual framework, and sense-making to pose the question:when you use the term misconception, are you saying that sense-making is wrong? Sense-making is a natural, active and continuous process that is occurring in the classroom that teacher educators cannot ignore, but rather build upon. Science and mathematics teacher educators need to open the possibilities and opportunities of what to know, how it knows what it knows, and who can know. As an instructional method inquiry is a foundation upon which to build learning. Short and Burke (1996) propose the purpose of inquiry is to find more functional understandings, create diversity, and broaden our thinking (p. 101). As an activity in which all learners are involved, sense-making gives voices to learners. Three assumptions, implied by the term misconception, presently important to science and mathematics education are: 1. There exists a body of scientific facts or knowledge which are Truths, to be taught, learned, and evaluated. 2. The goal of learning is to collect all the Truths. 3. Constructed understandings connected within a conceptual framework are misconceptions; hence, misconceptions can be replaced by scientific Truths. Misconception denoted deficiency within learner, and sense-making is affirmation of learners as a people and learners as learners. Two implications for science and mathematics teacher educators from the reflections of the author are: 1. Sense-making does not limit learning to learning in school. 2. Teachers are sense-makers. Both of these build upon the understanding of children’s learning. Learners learn before they begin school, outside school one they begin school, and continue to do most of their learning outside school. Also for children, a powerful means of learning is through imitation