Secondary School Students’ Understandings of Scientific Processes: an interview study

Thirty two students aged between 13 and 16 were interviewed individually to determine their understanding of the meaning of a range of science processes. In an attempt to obtain understandings from students with a range of interests and abilities in scientific investigation the sample was stratified according to participation and degree of success in science fairs. A total of 63 misconceptions was identified. Independent variables were considered by students to be independent because they were outside the boundary of the experiment and hence not related to it. Dependent and independent variables were both seen as being the same as controlled variables. Controlling variables was viewed as a way to manipulate an experiment rather than as eliminating confounding influences. Inferring was not distinguished from observing, and observing was generally limited to the sense of sight. Predicting and hypothesizing were not distinguished, and both were considered to represent guesses. About two thirds of the responses made by subjects were inadequate.