Slowmation: Helping Students Address their Misconceptions in Physical Science

High school students come to science class with misconceptions that are often difficult to correct. The research suggests that students must address their misconceptions directly in order to correct them (NRC, 2008). It also indicates that students have a difficult time relinquishing their misconceptions because this is how they make sense of their surroundings (Gooding & Metz, 2011). The purpose of this action research project was to determine if Slowmation, a technology-based pedagogical strategy, would help students address specific misconceptions in physical science more effectively than using traditional teaching strategies such as teacher lecture and book work. Slowmation allows students to design and create narrated stop-motion animation explaining science concepts using the five representations defined by Slowmation. The data from this project indicated that the use of Slowmation was able to help students address specific misconceptions in physical science, phase changes of matter. In addition to the study, limitations are discussed, additional ideas for future research are given, and specific representations of Slowmation that helped students relinquish their misconceptions in physical science are examined.