an innovative approach

the students to understand the relationships between plant food, plant materials and
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the photosynthesis process. In the case study conducted at the Border School, the
concepts were discussed using the booklet “why do plants make sugar?” The findings
indicated that a majority of students could correct the misconceptions. For example,
the misconception about plant food; “mineral, fertilizer, water and air are plant
food...” was correctly substituted by the scientific concept; “glucose was plant food.”
These findings are supported by the studies of Barker and Carr (1989b, 1989c);
Matthews (1994).
Osborne and Wittrock (1985) also supported that exploring the students’ prior
knowledge using think share pair, think pair square, challenging them link and
generate new ideas about the concepts with their pair using game such as “True or
False” and “Matching Me” game, and assessing their own ideas with anybody else in
the classroom using story-telling and concept mapping helped them to correct their
misconceptions. Observations and interviews (in the case studies of the Market
School and the Babysat School) also supported that emphasizing on lecturing without
exploring the prior knowledge probably decreased the teachers’ formative assessment.
Students then had fewer chances to assess their own ideas. Some students retained
their misconceptions or generated new misconceptions.
Surveys and interviews in the case studies indicated that the students’ prior
understanding of introductory concepts support the students’ understanding of
advanced concepts. S01, S07 and S12, the students who corrected the misconception
about plant food appeared to scientifically understand the light independent (dark)
phase. On the other hand, students’ learning difficulties of chemical structure and
oxidation-reaction possibly had brought them to misunderstand the light dependent
(light) phase. For example, S01 who perceived that oxygen atom of H2O and CO2 are
electrons. S01 held some misconception that CO2 is separated into the electron and
the oxygen gas by light energy (see Table 5.4). Thus, there are introductory concepts
that this research additionally suggests to enhance high school students’
understanding of advanced photosynthesis concepts. Teachers should probe and