TEACHERS... here's a video that might be of interest

It's called Private Universe and was produced in 1987 by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

http://www.learner.org/resources/series28.html?pop=yes&vodid=39449&pid=9#


Although the hairstyles are a bit dated, the central idea is a fascinating one. What can we as teachers do to address the (often incorrect) preconceived notions that our students have? The video focuses on two main questions: Why do the seasons change, and why does the moon have phases? As shown in the video, many well-educated people still answer these questions wrong.

As a biology teacher, i am especially interested in how this relates to the teaching of evolution. Many students come to evolution with opinions based on erroneous information -- what can we as teachers do to address and correct this problem?

It makes me think of when I teach. The science teacher was entirely right--students come in with their own preconceived ideas that you have to deal with first.

What age group do you teach? I am wondering if these preconceived ideas get more and more entrenched as we deal with older students...

Grammar rules especially get mixed up in people's minds.