Growing Pebbles and Conceptual Prisms – Understanding the Source of Student Misconceptions About Rock Formation

Students hold a surprising number of misconceptions about how rocks form. This study analyzes narrative essays - stories of rock formation - written by pre-service elementary school teachers. Most students had completed a college-level course in earth science, yet expressed startling misconceptions, including pebbles that grow, human involvement in rock formation, and sedimentary rocks forming as puddles dry up. These misconceptions arise from...