Differentiation of Instruction to Address
the Common Alternative Conceptions
An understanding of the nature and basis of students’ prior
knowledge and alternative conceptions has immediate and
compelling application to science instruction as well as
science learning. This understanding could inform instructional
choices, beginning with the establishment of goals for
a course or curriculum. Clearly, little instructional clarification
is needed in areas in which students’ views overlap
with those generally accepted by scientists. Instructional
resources could thus be diverted from these areas toward
an intentional addressing of the deep-seated, often tacit
beliefs that students hold that are in varying degrees of
disharmony with scientific ones. These prior beliefs warrant
our focused instructional attention, because they serve as
anchors for both assimilation and construction of new
knowledge and thus may interfere with the learning of any
new concepts introduced in the course or may result in
unintended learning outcomes. As Wandersee et al. (1994)
acknowledge, these alternate conceptions are present at all
levels of formal instruction, including college, and cut
across ability level, gender, and cultural boundaries, as well
as age.