Misconceptions in Chemistry of High School Teachers and its Origin

Misconceptions are the barriers in the learning of the students. Concepts can be identified in two kinds, namely abstract and concrete ones. Concrete ideas can provide students with direct experience on it while it is difficult for students to perceive abstract ideas due to indirect practices towards it. Teachers take part in a crucial part in the understanding of the students. Therefore, teachers must be mindful of the misconceptions and potential practice to work out the misconceptions. This research aims to identify the misconceptions of science teachers in Chemistry. The study was conducted with 54 science teachers in one of the cities in Metro Manila, Philippines. The mixed-method approach was chosen for the study wherein quantitative data was collected through online google form with 92% retrieval rate from the chosen respondents. A multiple-choice identification test consisting of questions from Earth Science, Chemistry, Physics and Biology adopted from the research of Biilent and Esra study. The 25 items each survey was pilot tested with the 35 science teachers in public schools in Pasig City, Philippines.  The Cronbach Alpha coefficient was found to be .971 to test the coefficient of reliability or consistency of the questions in the survey while the qualitative data was collected from the focus group discussion. This research reveals that there are 19 misconceptions out of 25 questions identified in Chemistry. Furthermore, research shows that the number one source of the misconceptions of Science Teachers is the Electronic Media, followed by Textbooks, then the teachers and other sources of misconceptions are peers, parents and colleagues. The researcher suggested that there should be a series of seminars to correct the misconceptions of teachers, there should be a list of credible websites for the teachers’ reference and to provide rigorous seminars for the Secondary School Science Teachers.