Eliminating student misconceptions regarding the unit, Adventure of Democracy, in sixth grade social studies lessons

Abstract

Misconceptions are judgments formed in the mind of an individual about a concept that contradicts scientific principles. Identifying and correcting existing misconceptions in students’ minds is an important part of education. To help students properly grasp the concepts covered in the curriculum, any existing misconceptions should be identified and eliminated first, which will ensure that they will better learn the concepts that they encounter in the future. Adopting an action research design, we aimed to examine whether the misconceptions of 6th grade students regarding the study unit, The Adventure of Democracy, have been resolved. The study group consisted of 24 students in classes 6/A and 6/B at the Havuz Secondary School in the Kangal district of the Sivas province of Turkey in the 2017/2018 academic year. Certain methods were used to produce activities aimed at teaching concepts and eliminating misconceptions – audio recordings and field notes were used as the data collection tools. The data were analysed through descriptive analysis. The analysis revealed that the action research activities were effective in teaching the targeted concepts and eliminating the misconceptions held by students.