MAKING USE OF COMMON ERRORS AND MISCONCEPTIONS TO ENHANCE UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE

The presence of errors and misconceptions about Earth Sciences is a common place in every day information, but what makes it more dangerous is that it appears also with an alarming frequency in books and magazines designed for kids. Translations made by not- properly-skilled translators usually have a serious impact in the degradation of scientific information and is regarded as a major problem in using material from the newspapers for school work.

Although the believing that the Earth's mantle is a boiling liquid is the most popular misconception, some others, like confusing minerals and rocks are also present, sometimes in text books, and must be identified and corrected. Training the teachers to do so in not an easy task, and it is even more difficult to alert young readers about the possible presence of mistakes in what they read for pleasure and learning.

A selection of case stories is presented, taken from different sources, in English and Spanish, which use has proven to be useful to motivate school teachers and pupils to play the role of reviewers and find the errors and misconceptions. To make sure they have actually understood the subject they are requested to develop and present what they find is the correct concept and the best way to introduce it.