Why this approach is important

Being aware of your students’ ideas and knowing how to develop them is important because:

  • their ideas can affect how your students learn and the extent to which they can accept the scientific ideas you teach them about
  • your teaching will be more successful in supporting meaningful understanding, rather than superficial rote learning
  • it enables you to plan experiences that will develop or change their ideas.

Pause for thought

  • What sorts of experiences of heat and temperature are children likely to have through their lives outside school? Make a list of as many as you can.
  • What do you think they learned about heat and temperature as a result of these experiences?

What you can learn in this unit

1 Your own understanding