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110 Misconceptions About the Ocean Oceanography B Y R O B Ert J This article has This been published in or collective redistirbution of any portion of this article by photocopy machine, reposting, or other means is permitted only with the approval of The approval portionthe ofwith any permitted articleonly photocopy by is of machine, reposting, this means or collective or other redistirbution EDUCATIO N 110 Misconceptions About the Ocean Oceanography B Y R O B erT J . F E LL er , Volume 20, Number 4, a quarterly journal of The 20, Number 4, a quarterly , Volume Misconceptions impede student learn- at the University of Washington in sum- classes I’ve taught since 1970, one would ing, especially in science. As teachers mer 1970 (taught by Eddy Carmack, think that few misconceptions would go of earth science, we would be wise to by the way), I have come across stu- unheard or unread on tests, but this is identify misconceptions whenever pos- dent misconceptions too numerous to simply not the case. I still confront new sible before launching new topics in count. The very first one came during ones all the time. Thanks to the current our oceanography courses. A good way a one-on-one laboratory write-up help crop of students in my Fundamentals to do this is to pose creative, multiple- session in this class. The student was a of Biological Oceanography class, O ceanography Society. Society. ceanography choice, PowerPoint questions that freshman nonoceanography, nonscience a few more were added to the list can be answered anonymously using major who wondered why people in just this semester. student-response systems, “clickers,” in the Southern Hemisphere didn’t fall What you do with misconceptions can large introductory classes (Beatty et al., off the earth. For some odd reason, this vary quite a bit. Basically, I use a con- C opyright 2007 by The 2007 by opyright 2006; Caldwell, 2007) (Figure 1). Having same student also had trouble solving structivist inquiry approach built upon taught many such classes for nonscience rate x time = distance problems, not to the conceptual change model (CCM; majors—mostly without clickers—since mention difficulties with metric system Stepans, 2006). This learning model my very first laboratory as a teaching conversions. With class sizes ranging encourages students in the classroom to O ceanography Society. Society. ceanography O assistant in the evening OCN 101 course from 15 to 415 in the 40+ oceanography confront their own preconceptions, as or Th e [email protected] Send Society. ceanography to: correspondence all well as those of their classmates, and to then strive to resolve them. The CCM A has six stages: (1) students become aware reproduction, systemmatic Republication, article for use and research. this copy in teaching to granted ll rights reserved. is Permission O ceanography Society, P Society, ceanography O B Figure 1. Example of a “clicker”—a multiple-choice, PowerPoint question that 1931, Rockville,ox M can be answered anonymously using student-response systems in large intro- ductory classes. The slide on the right includes the responses obtained anony- mously from my students (n = 89 nonscience majors). Here, the green bar indi- cates the correct answer. This slide shows that many students have not made D the connection of tides as waves, or that water motion can be influenced by 20849-1931, the tide. For some reason they view the tide simply as a change in the vertical height of water—how in the world could a wave do something like that? U S A . 170 Oceanography Vol. 20, No. 4 of their preconceptions about a concept “That’s what I was thinking” or “Yeah, my tions, most have been uttered in some by thinking about it and making predic- science teacher told us that” or “Isn’t that way by undergraduates but, unfortu- tions (commit to an outcome); (2) they what the book says?” or “That’s the way nately, many come from an alarmist expose their beliefs by sharing them, ini- my friend explained it to me” or some media or science teachers (and par- tially in small groups and then with the such remark. They love confirmation of ents!) whose only, if any, undergraduate entire class; (3) they confront their beliefs their way of thinking, right or wrong— courses in science were of the “rocks for in small group discussions; (4) students that’s just human nature. It is never a jocks” and self-paced astronomy ilk. If then resolve conflicts between their good idea for the teacher to simply state you want to learn more about science ideas (based on classroom discussions) that they are wrong and tell them here’s misconceptions in general, a great place and their observations (based on new the way it is—this doesn’t get to the root to start is Driver et al. (1994). You will or additional information provided), of their misconception. They have to be amazed by their findings. The recent thereby accommodating the new con- reach a state of confusion before they can article by Bloom and Weisberg (2007) cept; (5) students extend the concept rectify their thinking based on the new on resistance to understanding science by trying to make connections between evidence or information. Once you have is also quite instructive to anyone who what they just learned in the classroom sort of gotten them hooked into your line teaches science in any field. It is now and their daily lives; lastly, (6) students of reasoning, then you can back up and time to HEM and HAW—Help Eradicate are encouraged to go beyond their level explain where the flaws exist by showing Misconceptions and join the Hunt for of understanding and pursue additional the new (to them, anyway) information Additional Wisdom. I must now turn questions related to the concept. In brief, again and explaining why you reject that my attention to misconceptions in biol- you lead students to a quandry that con- particular line of reasoning. ogy and ecology. Did you know that flicts with their current level of under- I provide some common misconcep- the nonliquid biomass a tree accumu- standing (the misconception or incorrect tions on the next two pages (with apolo- lates as it grows from a seed comes perception), so they must now confront gies for an obvious southeastern seafood from the soil? Those who teach carbon their level of understanding with evi- bias engendered by wonderful field trips cycles and global warming better attack dence or data to the contrary that should, with students to barrier islands off the this one right away. I guess CO2 is just hopefully, lead them to a new under- South Carolina coast). They are catego- blowing in the wind… standing of whatever is the “truth.” rized rather loosely, and the number I also sometimes simply discuss a assigned to each has no significance as ReferenCes PowerPoint slide directly with the class to how frequently I’ve heard it or how Beatty, I.D., W.J. Gerace, W.J. Leonard, and R.J. Dufresne. 2006. Designing effective questions for after seeing how many have selected an deeply embedded it is. Many of these classroom response system teaching. American answer that would indicate a misconcep- you will have encountered before, some Journal of Physics 74(1):31–39. Bloom, P., and D.S. Weisberg. 2007. Childhood origins tion exists. I try to figure out why some- may be new, but none had as great an of adult resistance to science. Science 316:996–997. one would think that way, and I do this impact on me as #40, dutifully pro- Caldwell, J.E. 2007. Clickers in the large classroom: out loud, sort of reasoning to myself. nounced about 20 years ago by one of Current research and best-practice tips. CBE Life Science Education 6(1):9–20. Surprisingly, having heard my line of rea- my children’s elementary-level science Driver, R., A. Squires, P. Rushworth, and V. Wood- soning to justify reaching the incorrect teachers. Because of its obvious potential Robinson. 1994. Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Children’s Ideas. Routledge, KY, answer, students will frequently blurt out for causing harm, this single uninformed 210 pp. misstatement of fact about seawater and Stepans, J. 2006. Targeting Students’ Science Misconceptions. Physical Science Concepts Using the ROBerT J. FELLer electricity was the initial impetus for ([email protected]) Conceptual Change Model, 3rd ed. Showboard, Inc., is Professor, Marine Science Program my more recent formal forays into the Clearwater, FL, 286 pp. and Department of Biological Sciences, complex, challenging world of science and Director, Center for Science education—I simply had to get more This is Contribution No. 1464 from the Education, University of South Carolina, deeply involved. Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine & Columbia, SC, USA. As for the origins of these misconcep- Coastal Sciences. Oceanography December 2007 171 110 Misconceptions About the Ocean WAves/TIDes/CUrrenTS 27. Nuclear submarines routinely dive to the bottom 1. Waves are highest near shore, don’t break much in of the ocean. the open ocean. 28. The clearest ocean water is in the Caribbean. 2. The open ocean is static, still, and quiet compared to 29. The Bermuda Triangle is a really unsafe, dangerous place. the coast’s big waves. 30. There are no more pirates on the high seas—that’s just in 3. Tsunamis occur after every underwater earthquake. the movies. 4. Tides are caused by Earth’s rotation. 31. Undertow = “under-toe,” the swash/backwash erosion 5. Tidal currents are fast and therefore deadly. underfoot on the beach. 6. Ignoring tides, sea level is the same everywhere. 32. Where does seawater go when sea level drops? It changes 7.
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