Raising pre-service teachers' awareness of their educational psychology misconceptions

Pieschl, S (Stephanie)¹, Budd, J (Janene)², Archer, J (Jennifer)^2
1Technische Universität Darmstadt
²The University of Newcastle

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Bouillonzaal, 27-09-2019, 09:00 - 10:30

Keywords

misconception, preconception, knowledge, pre-service teacher, teacher education

Summary

If teachers harbour misconceptions about educational psychology content, their teaching might suffer. We tested the effectiveness of awareness activities during an university course for pre-service teachers (n = 119). In a 2x2 within-subject design, misconceptions were measured at the start and the end of the course (T1 vs. T2) regarding course content and topics not addressed in the course (course vs. control). To raise awareness, the correct answers were disclosed at T1 and T2; the correct answers were explained in detail throughout the course.

A dependent t-test shows significantly higher performance gain / misconception drop (T2 - T1) in the the course condition than in the control condition, t(118) = 12.642, p < .001. The accuracy of students' metacognitive judgments increased significantly from T1 to T2 and was significantly higher in the course than in the control condition. Importantly, the accuracy of confidence judgements at T1 was significantly correlated with performance gain (rho = .318, p < .01).

Before the course, students harboured numerous misconceptions and were overconfident, especially regarding course topics. Our awareness activities increased their awareness of misconceptions and decreased their misconceptions, but did not eradicate misconceptions. Especially overconfident students might have ignored feedback and instruction.

Auteurs