Uncovering Student Ideas

Research from the cognitive sciences points out how important it is to take the time to uncover students’ preconceptions.  Many students have already formed ideas about phenomena and scientific concepts before they ever encounter them in the classroom. Furthermore, even when taught, students will often cling to their preconceptions if they remain unsurfaced and unchallenged. This book, published in 2005, helps pinpoint the ideas students (as well as teachers) bring to their learning. The book is comprised of 25 “probes”—brief, easily administered assessment activities designed to determine your students’ thinking on 44 core science topics (grouped by physical science, life science, and Earth and space science).
The probes are invaluable formative assessment tools to use before you begin teaching a topic. They are also used for monitoring student learning throughout the course of instruction to determine conceptual change. The detailed teacher materials that accompany each probe review science content; give connections to National Science Education Standards and Benchmarks; present developmental considerations; summarize relevant research on learning; and suggest instructional approaches for elementary, middle, and high school students. Many books discuss students’ general misconceptions about scientific ideas. This one provides probes—single, reproducible assessment prompts— you can use to determine students’ thinking about, for example, photosynthesis, animals, living things, molecules, moon phases, conservation of matter, reflection, sound, weathering, chemical change, heat and temperature, evaporation, and cells. Each probe has been field-tested with hundreds of students across multiple grade levels, so they’re proven effective for surfacing erroneous ideas that pose barriers to learning. The introductory chapter of this book provides an overall introduction to formative assessment and how it both promotes learning and informs instruction.
You can purchase this book through the NSTA store (and download a free chapter) by clicking here  http://www.nsta.org/store/?lid=tnavhp