Abstract:

From their very first interactions with the environment, children develop mental structures to help them manipulate objects and later on understand the world around them. These mental structures receive different names such as preconceptions or intuitive ideas, and it seems clear that when children attend their first science classes at school, they are not empty blackboards where the science teacher can write the correct scientific concepts, but they already have a number of ideas and theories, based on their own experience of the world, that have a varying degree of accuracy. What role do these intuitive ideas play in the learning process? Are they a positive influence, or do they make the acquisition of new concepts more difficult? In this paper, this topic is analyzed, and it is concluded that it is still an open issue, because researchers have opinions favoring both alternatives. Regardless of the actual role that intuitive ideas play in learning, it seems advisable for primary school science teachers to be familiar with the most common intuitive ideas and misconceptions found in young science students. We describe some of the most common misconceptions and difficulties children have regarding science topics, so that teachers can adapt their methodologies and the contents of their classes to the particular situation of their students.

Keywords:

Alternative frameworks, misconceptions in science.