Misconceptions in biology among high school science teachers in Siargao Islands

Introduction

Learning is the product of one's understanding gainedfrom the environment and experiences. In ways thatthese factors are interacted have a crucial role ininculcating learning as these may drawmisconceptions. Misconceptions refer to the intuitivenotion, alternative framework, naive theories, andcommonsense beliefs that students have created forthemselves as a result of interactions with theirphysical world (Baweja Manmeet Oberoi, 2017).Misconceptions can be described in two types, such asphenomenological and vocabulary. Phenomenologicalmisconceptions are linked to incorrect phenomenainterpretation while the vocabulary misconceptionsresult through limited experience (Abu-Hola, 2004). 

Some research indicates, students often havemisunderstandings about the many disciplines ofstudy, from the elementary school level to the collegelevel. The concepts on the principles of osmosis,diffusion, photosynthesis, respiration, ecology,genetics, classification, and the human circulatorysystem are among those that appear to be frequentlymisunderstood by students (Susanti Rahmi, 2018). 

Lack of relevant prior experience, inability to developan adequate, cohesive mental representation of thephenomenon, or failure to recognize the connectionsbetween various concepts could all be contributingfactors to one's inability to comprehend the concepts(Abu-Hola, 2004). In an interview, results revealedthat abstract concepts, a wide range of unfamiliarwords, a challenging language, students' lack ofreadiness to accept the information presented bylecturers, and the use of learning resources such asprint media, print journals, social media, teachingstaff, and colleagues are the main causes ofmisconceptions (Duda Hilarius Jago et al., 2020).

While some of the misconceptions may be the resultof bad item crafting, notably the failure to consider allthe potential views that the students might see, it hasbeen discovered via interactions with teachers thatthese are in fact held by some teachers (Kwen BooHong, 2005).

In the Philippines, certain elementary and secondaryscience reference books, mistakes and misconceptionshave been discovered (Rogayan Jr. Danilo V. andAlbino Michelle M., 2019); Raymundo, (2008). Thesemisunderstandings are likely impossible for a teacherwithout a science background to clear things up,leading to an increase in mistakes. Nevertheless,Philippines fall behind other nations in terms of thecaliber of science education (Rogayan Jr. Danilo V.and Albino Michelle M., 2019). According to theWorld Economic Forum (WEF, 2018) GlobalCompetitiveness Report (2017-2018), the Philippinesranked 76th out of 137 participating countries in thequality of math and science. Additionally, thePhilippines were placed last out of ten (10)participating countries in the Trends in InternationalMathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), (TellermoES and Gabasa CG, 2019). This suggests that theFilipino students have lower understanding onscientific and mathematical concepts due to theexisting misconceptions.

A myriad of studies has indicated that educators'erroneous judgments may have contributed tostudents' misconceptions (Rogayan Jr. Danilo V. andAlbino Michelle M. 2019; Larkin, 2012). It isparticularly difficult to correct these beliefs whenthese make perfect sense to the students (Rogayan Jr.Danilo V. and Albino Michelle M. 2019; Allen 2010).Since, teachers are the facilitators of learning and theessential drivers for correcting studentsmisconceptions; teachers must have a full grasp of theconcept to avoid misconceptions. Thus, due toexisting misconceptions, the researchers prompted toconduct this study to investigate and addressmisconceptions among high school science teachersin Siargao Islands.