Knowing Your Students

This article is very enlightening. Most teachers think they know what their students know before they begin a lesson. What i found very interesting in this article is that not all teachers d... See More

This article is very enlightening. Most teachers think they know what their students know before they begin a lesson. What i found very interesting in this article is that not all teachers do know about their students. In this article it talks about how many students don't know what things classify as an animal. They also don't know why they do or do not classify as an animal. I think this huge misconception can be stopped much sooner. I also found it interesting how trade books can be confusing or misleading to some students when it comes to animals. It is important to pick out quality books that accurately represent what you want your students to know.

What Do Young Children Know About Animals?

This student was generated because many trade books do not use the correct terms for animals. Only vertebrates are often referred to as animals. Insects and snakes are sometimes referred ... See More

This student was generated because many trade books do not use the correct terms for animals. Only vertebrates are often referred to as animals. Insects and snakes are sometimes referred to as critters and lots of textbooks fail to define an organism. All of these lead to student misconceptions about animals. Reading the results of this study provide an interesting look at what students think. This article is well worth reading and it might help elementary teachers present the concept of animals more correctly to eliminate some of the misconceptions.