TEACHERS MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE CIRCULATORY-SYSTEM

Most of the teachers participating in an in-service teacher training p rogramme demonstrated a number of misconceptions of the circulatory sy stem. They did not understand the relationships between flow rate, blo od pressure, and vessel diameter. This led to the formation of erroneo us ideas on the properties of capillaries. They had unclear ideas of t he role of formation and withdrawal of tissue fluid at the capillary p lexus, and showed a poor understanding of the mechanism for exchange o f materials between the blood and body cells. The findings revealed th at many biology teachers may not possess adequate subject knowledge fo r teaching the secondary curriculum. Teacher training programmes shoul d promote teachers' awareness of the nature and impact of children's m isconceptions in science learning. Teachers' understanding in biologic al knowledge should be strengthened so that they would not propagate o r perpetuate misconceptions.