What are science misconceptions?
Students enter science classrooms with a variety of ideas about how the world works. Some of their understandings are incomplete, while others are faulty. These pre- or misconceptions are tenaciously held onto by students and can cloud their thinking about science concepts they encounter in school. Our work is focused on using game activities to challenge students’ naive theories and help them develop the skills to identify and remove such misperceptions from their understanding. The first set of game activities focuses on misconceptions held in the life and physical sciences, specifically those related to ecosystems and energy transfer. In the middle grades, students learn that organisms can be classified by the function they serve in an ecosystem. Specifically, they learn that plants are producers—they make their own food. However, students typically struggle with the term “food” when it is used in the context of plants and strongly associate the word food with eating. Many students
