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Tackling Scientific Misconceptions: The Element of Surprise
Maria Theobald1,2, Garvin Brod1,2,3
1DIPF, Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education.
Child Development
|May 10, 2021
Summary
Surprise helps children revise scientific misconceptions. By predicting outcomes before seeing the reality, children experience more surprise, leading to better belief revision about concepts like water displacement.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Developmental Psychology
- Science Education
Background:
- Learners often retain misconceptions despite conflicting evidence.
- Understanding how to revise these misconceptions is crucial for effective learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of surprise in facilitating children's revision of scientific misconceptions.
- To examine if surprise, induced by prediction-outcome conflicts, aids in correcting misunderstandings about water displacement.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 94 German children (aged 6-9 years) was conducted.
- Surprise was measured using pupil dilation response.
- Children generated predictions about water displacement, then observed outcomes contradicting their misconceptions, compared to a control group.
Main Results:
- Generating predictions significantly increased children's surprise compared to the control group.
- This increased surprise led to a greater revision of misconceptions (d = 0.56).
- Surprise was a predictor of successful belief revision during the learning process.
Conclusions:
- Surprise enhances the salience of cognitive conflict, thereby aiding the revision of scientific misconceptions.
- Educational strategies that induce surprise may be effective in correcting children's misunderstandings.
- The findings highlight the importance of emotional responses in cognitive restructuring and learning.
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