Mrs. Samia Dogar Associate Prof

Federal College Of Education H-9 Islamabad

noun plural noun: concepts an abstract idea. "structuralism is a difficult concept“ Meaning: Idea Abstract

Conceptualization a plan or intention. an idea or invention to help sell or

publicize a commodity (Product or service or act).

A concept is an abstraction or generalization from experience or the result of a transformation of existing concepts. The concept reifies all of its actual or potential instances whether these are things in the real world or other ideas. Concepts are treated in many if not most disciplines both explicitly, such as in psychology, philosophy, etc., and implicitly, such as in mathematics, physics.

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Behavior analysts, however, refer to concepts As sets of stimuli that occasion a common response and… Within a set of stimuli, some stimuli occasion the behavior without

the benefit of explicit teaching (other names for concepts are “stimulus classes” or

“categories”)

What defines the “boundaries” of a concept (how large or small the set is) is often determined by society, culture, schooling, etc. E.g., color categories across different cultures

What is a Concept?What is a Concept?

, process by which a person learns to sort specific experiences into general rules or classes With regard to action, a person picks up a particular stone or drives a specific car. With regard to thought however, a person appears to deal with classes. For instance, one knows that stones (in general) sink and automobiles (as a class) are powered by engines. In other words, these things are considered in a general sense beyond any particular stone or automobile. Awareness of such classes can help guide behaviour in new situations. Thus two people in a bakery may never have met before, but, if one can be classified as customer and the other as clerk, they tend to behave appropriately. Similarly, many people are able to drive almost any automobile by knowing how to drive a specific automobile.

Barrass wrote of "mistakes" or errors, "misconceptions" or misleading ideas, and "misunderstandings" or misinterpretations of facts, saying that teachers and brighter students can correct errors.

Hancock defined a "misconception" as "...any unfounded belief that does not embody the element of fear, good luck, faith, or supernatural intervention" . Hancock considered misconceptions to arise from faulty reasoning.

Ideas expressed that do not have the status of generalized understandings that are characteristic of conceptual knowledge. (Ausubel, 1968)

These are actually preconceived notion or a conceptual misunderstanding. These are cases in which something a person knows and believes does not match what is known to be scientifically correct.

Many people who hold misconceptions do not even know that their ideas are false or incorrect. What is especially worrisome about misconceptions is that people continue to build knowledge on their current understandings. Possessing misconceptions can have serious impacts on an individual’sLearning

Naive conceptions can be referred to as a preconceived notion or a conceptual misunderstanding.

Research on students ‘conceptions has proliferated in the last twenty years an enhanced our understanding about the preconceptions, misconceptions and alternative conceptions that students bring with them to the classroom.

By now, it is well accepted that alternative conceptions and misconceptions are common among students and that these interfere with subsequent learning and are resistant to change. Overcoming misconception is crucial to student learning. Therefore, a study of student’ misconceptions in the subject of Physics, conducted at secondary school level has great significance.