WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO RECTIFY A MISCONCE PTION IN LEARNERS

Many people nourish a misconception that vacuums draw substance into t hem. But vacuums can never draw anything. In fact, air presses substan ce. This study aimed al investigating why it is difficult for learners to rectify such misconception, by using specially devised questions. Subjects were undergraduates. The main results were as follows; (1) On ce their misconception was provoked, most Ss unintentionally tried to modify their knowledge on the amount of air pressure in such a way as not to contradict their misconception. (2) Even when they were instruc ted in advance to use the relevant knowledge they had, their misconcep tion couldn't be replaced by the correct concept. (3) But the reasonin g process based on the relevant knowledge could he activated under a c ertain type of questions. (4) So we might infer that two contradictory reasoning processes could coexist in cognitive structure in learners.