Chronicle Comic Misconceptions Assignment

Using the information from the TCC & Misconceptions PPT, and the Misconceptions
in Science Education, and Discrepant Event Demonstrations article, (Wright &
Govindarajan, 1995) readings (also interesting to read: Common Misconceptions,
List of cool and useful discrepant events) on D2L -

1. Identify what category or categories of misconceptions does Danae have in the

comic strip. Whats your justification for your answer?

-Danae has misconceptions in the category of preconceived notions and non-

scientific beliefs. I believe that Danae struggles with her own preconceived notions
that she was told to not take anything as fact, and she sees that the Earth must be
flat because when she looks out on the horizon all she sees is flat. Since she has not
received education to convince her otherwise (despite justifiable evidence from
family members), she does not want to believe that her pre-conceived notions are
false. I also believe that her misconceptions fall under the non-scientific beliefs
category because she is not using a scientific brain entirely to analyze the
information, but rather her visual brain. Logically, she looks out on the horizon and
sees nothing but flat, but cannot analyze that the evidence presented to her can
also make sense using the scientific knowledge of gravity and Earths rotations.

2. What are Danaes justifications for believing in and keeping her misconception?

-Danae justifies her belief that the Earth is flat by providing her own evidence that
Seeing is believing, and what she sees is flat. When presented with evidence that
if Earth was flat like a dinner plate, Danae says that China is on the bottom
because she is still using the visual aspects of her mind. When presented with
complete evidence against her argument, she starts saying La la la la, and
dismisses the other persons opinion in an attempt to shut her mind down to the
new conflicting opinion.

3. What are the strategies the other characters are using to try to get her to change
her mind? Are they working?

-The other characters are using the strategies of presenting new concepts or
theories that you are teaching in such a way that students see as plausible, high-
quality, intelligible and generative, using model-based reasoning, which helps
students construct new representations that vary from their intuitive theories, and
helping students become aware of (raise student metacognition about) their own
alternative conceptions (misconceptions). I believe that the most effective
strategies involved helping Danae become aware of her thinking on these
misconceptions, because those were the situations in which she shut down by using
her dismissal technique.
4. Name and explain one strategy, besides a discrepant event, you would use to
convince Danae to change her mind.

-I believe that the most helpful strategy to convince Danae to change her mind
would be using bridging analogies to link her misconception to other
misconceptions. Using an anchor chart to visually demonstrate her misconception in
comparison to actual experimentation results would coincide with her visual
conceptual brain. I would use a technique that enhances conceptual understanding
rather than memorization of facts since she is at a state in which she does not take
facts as truth, but rather a bunch of lies. Connecting these ideas about how the
world works and how other planets work would emphasize the other aspects that
she may be struggling with that prevent her from understanding the facts
presented.

5. What discrepant event could you use to change Danaes mind, and how does it
work to change her mind?

-In terms of using a discrepant event, I would use a flat board with lots of little army
men or some demonstration of humans and cups of water to represent oceans for
Danae to see. I would have her make observations about what this model
represents, and ask her to explain her argument about how humans interact on this
flat Earth. Would the army men be able to stay on the Earth if they were living in
China (as she explained during the plate portion of the comic). This would assess
her understanding of gravity, which would potentially hinder her understanding of a
round Earth. Furthermore, I would ask her what would happen if the Earth model
were accurate and be on a tilt. I would demonstrate how people and the oceans
would fall off the side of the Earth. Having her compare observations about the
model to her own understanding of how the world works would be a helpful way to
visually see that this is not actually truth in terms of Earths shape.