Students gave us insights into their thinking that didn't come through in their written work. In addition, watching Thorley interview students and later reviewing tapes of my own interviews greatly enhanced my own questioning techniques. The classroom tapes are also useful teaching tools. Both of us have used them at workshop presentations. In fact, the depth of the problem has surprised us.
Personal theories change slowly, even when physical evidence contradicts their very foundations.
We sometimes saw students correct a misconception, but then inappropriately use new information to distort the correct theory. Yet unless we make some effort to explore students' personal theories, we will continue to graduate college students with their childhood misconceptions virtually untouched. On the positive side, students at a grade 5 level are capable of employing sophisticated science reasoning. While it is impossible to evaluate whether teaching students to test and revise personal theories throughout their school years ultimately affects their views of the natural world, this approach unquestionably offers more hope than current methods of science instruction. Conceptual change appears to require an ongoing solution.