The pupil and the living cell: a taxonomy of dysfunctional ideas about an abstract idea

Abstract

This paper is based on the findings of a two-tier questionnaire approach followed by a series of interviews with tenth grade (age 16) pupils who had been taught about ‘the living cell’ the previous year. The questionnaire was based on the normative curricular expectations of the ‘establishment’ (including the views of practising teachers). Pupils' responses during the interviews permitted a multi-dimensional categorization according to the type(s) of knowledge possessed by them, its functionality, the degree of ego-involvement with such knowledge, and their readiness for conceptual (ex) change and hence the chance for survival of out-of-school acquired misconceptions about ‘the living cell’. It was found that many misconceptions survived because they were socially, but not scientifically, functional in the classroom situation, that is because they had remained undetected by the teachers or were even regarded as acceptable analogies by teachers. The need for an early diagnosis of such misconceptions was thus regarded as imperative in order to prevent their survival and possible reinforcement. Furthermore, the introduction of concepts by teachers, which cannot become meaningful to pupils because of the non-functionality of previously acquired knowledge (prerequisites for concept-formation) or complete lack of such knowledge, was seen to lead inevitably to the formation of erroneous ideas—misconceptions. It was suggested that, in order to avoid the rise of such misconceptions and their survival, a teaching approach be adopted by which a concept can be described by means of meaningful attributes, and linked to other, related concepts.