Running head: Misconceptions Interview Analysis

Misconceptions Interview Analysis Elizabeth Brito James Madison University

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Misconceptions Interview Analysis

A common misconception among schools students is how phases of the moon occur. According to the Standards of Learning in Virginia, students in third grade should learn the phases of the moon and how they occur. As the interviewer, I wanted to see if a fourth grade student from my practicum class would be able to properly convey the phases of the moon and why they occur, or if he or she would revert to his or her prior conceptions. The moon has no light of its own. The light that appears to be coming from the moon that people see on Earth is the reflection of direct sunlight. As the moon orbits around Earth, it is illuminated from different angles. These illuminations create the different phases of the moon. The moon cycles through its phases in the following order: new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. During a new moon, the moon is located in between the Earth and sun. The side of the moon that is receiving light at this location is facing toward the sun, not Earth, so the moon is only dimly lit by the sunlight that is reflected from the Earth. It takes 29.5 days to complete one moon phase cycle. On Earth, we always see the same side of the moon since the moon rotates at the same rate as Earth (Gaherty, 2012). Brandon* and I sat down at a table in the back of his fourth grade classroom and we started having a casual conversation about his interests. I leaned that Brandon is nine years old. He enjoys eating his favorite food, pizza, while watching the Braves play baseball and the Redskins play football. When he is not in school, eating pizza, or watching sports, Brandon enjoys riding his scooter around the neighborhood. After we have been talking for a few minutes and Brandon seems comfortable, I start moving the conversation in a more academic manner. Brandon tells me that his favorite subject in school is mathematics.

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS I ask him how he feels about science and he says that it is not too bad. He confirms that he remembers learning about the phases of the moon in third grade. The second portion of the interview began with Brandon explaining to me his understanding of the phases of the moon. I prompted him by simply asking him to tell me

what he remembers. Brandon explained that what we see of the moon is where the light is hitting. I asked him if the moon rotates like Earth does and if we see more than one side of it. He responded by telling me that the moon does not rotate like Earth does because it is not a planet and therefore only one side of the moon is visible to us on Earth. I wanted to explore that answer a bit more before moving on so I asked Brandon if he could explain that to me more to help me understand. Brandons responded saying, The moon is kind of well it is like it is attached to Earth. We only see one side because it goes around us without rotating. If it rotated we would get to see the other sides of it. Next I asked Brandon to draw a picture of the phases of the moon. He drew a full moon at the top of the paper, a half moon on the right and left sides of the paper, and a new moon at the bottom of the paper. I asked him if these were all of the phases of the moon and he looked a bit puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he drew a crescent shape in between the full moon and half moon and then looked up and told me he was pretty sure that is where it goes. I asked Brandon if there are any other places where that crescent shaped moon might go and he said, No, that phase only goes there, between the full moon and half moon. I asked him where the Earth would be and he drew it in the center of the paper and when I asked him where the sun would be he said it would be somewhere outside of the ring of moons that he drew but it would be in different places depending on the phase of the moon.

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Brandon shaded the areas of the moon that would be dark and left the areas that

would be visible from Earth as the color of the paper. I asked him what was happening with the new moon because the sun does not disappear on those days. Brandon got very flustered and said he did not know. I told him to give it his best shot and not to worry because this did not affect his grade. After some encouragement, he suggested that the Earth is blocking the sunlight from reaching the moon and therefore we cannot see it. I thanked Brandon for his time, effort, and answers and sent him back to his desk in order to prepare for his first block class. Brandons understanding of the phases of the moon is not complete and has some misunderstandings. While he understands that from Earth it is only possible to see one side of the moon, Brandon does not think that the moon has a rotation. In actuality, we only see one side of the moon because the moon and Earth rotate at the same rate. Brandons notion of Earth blocking the light from getting to the moon during the new moon phase demonstrates that he sees the Earth, moon, and sun as lying in a flat plane. He fails to extract the two-dimensional image of the phases of the moon he sees in textbooks and visualizes it in three-dimensional manner. When Brandon was drawing his picture of the phases of the moon I had to ask him where Earth would be. He perked up and said, Oh, here! and drew a circle in the center of his drawing. When I asked him where the sun would be he said it could be anywhere. Here or here or over here we dont really know. I pushed a little bit and said, Can it be up here or over here? while pointing above and below his drawing. He got a bit flustered and said well, no, to get a full moon and stuff it has to be in line with it to get the light. When labeling his drawing, he remembered the

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS terms full moon, new moon, and crescent moon, but could not come up with the names for the quarter moons and waning/waxing gibbous. Brandon is in Piagets Concrete Operational stage of development, which is normal for children seven to eleven years old. In this stage thought is now more logical, flexible,

and organized than it was during early childhood (Berk, 2012, p. 438). While Brandon did not demonstrate all aspects of this stage during our interview, like seriation, enough information was provided to safely classify his as a concrete operational child. Brandon is able to focus on the many aspects that make up the phases of the moon, rather than just on one. Concrete operation children can focus on relations between a general category and two specific categories at the same time (Berk, 2012, p. 438). With these different aspects, he is capable of explaining how the phases of the moon work. Brandons ability to map the phases of the moon demonstrates his spatial reasoning abilities. He was able to organize the phases in a sensible manner and revise his drawing when asked to include additional information (Berk, 2012). Constructivists do not like students to be passive learners, it is very important for students to work with the material and form their own understanding. Students are capable of forming understanding by building on preexisting knowledge that is in schemata. New information is either assimilated into existing schemata or organized to begin the formation of a new schema. In order for Brandon to be successful in learning how the phases of the moon work, a constructivist would have him work hands-on conducting research and experiments, recording observations, and participating in class discussion. As an instructor, I would begin to address the students beliefs by making him unsatisfied with his current beliefs. I would move from a simple to abstract. Based on

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Brandons explanation of how the new moon phase works, we would start with a discussion of how an eclipse occurs. To make this lesson more interactive, I would have Brandon use a lamp to simulate the sun and a foam ball to simulate the Earth. Brandon

would simulate a solar eclipse. Once Brandon understands how the solar eclipse works, we would move into more abstract material. I would ask Brandon if the solar eclipse is how the new moon occurs each month, or if the moon can be at located at different angles between the sun and Earth for the new moon to occur. At this point Brandon would take time experiment by orbiting the lamp with the foam ball, looking to see where the new moon phase occurs. Once he discovers the new moon phase, he is to experiment by moving the ball to different heights in order to create different angles. At these new angles, Brandon is to record if the different phases, like the new moon, still occur. By the end of the experiment, Brandon would understand that the moon, Earth, and sun do not always lie in a flat plane that is a rare occurrence and it what makes an eclipse so special. The Earth is constantly orbiting the sun and the moon is constantly orbiting Earth, and the phases that we see are due to the reflection of sunlight from the moon. Once Brandon has a deeper understanding of why the phases of the moon occur, he will create a presentation of his findings. Creating and performing this presentation will help Brandon remember this new information because he needs to repeat the information in order to create the presentation and he is repeating it again when performing. He will explain what the problem was (how he originally thought the phases of the moon worked), how he experimented to find the proper explanation, and what his conclusions are. This presentation can be performed for a class of his peers and for his guardians/parents.

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS Brandon, a fourth grade student, understands that the phases of the moon occurs because of the reflection of direct sunlight, but becomes flustered when trying to describe why a new moon occurs. Ultimately, Brandon decides that a new moon must occur when the Earth is blocking the sunlight from reaching the moon. His logical, flexible, and organized ideas combined with his spatial reasoning skills (demonstrated when drawing the phases of the moon) place Brandon in Piagets concrete operational stage of development. It is important for Brandon to be unsatisfied with his conception of how the phases of the moon work and perform hands-on tasks with the material in order to experiment for a more plausible explanation.

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality

MISCONCEPTIONS INTERVIEW ANALYSIS References Berk, L. (2012). Infants and children: Prenatal through middle childhood. (7th ed., pp. 438439). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Gaherty, G. (2012, August 13). How moon phases work. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/6650-moon-phases-work.html

*Names used in this essay have been changed for confidentiality