The role of prior knowledge on the origin and repair of misconceptions in an introductory class on materials science and engineering

The book, How People Learn, states that all learning involves transfer from prior knowledge (e.g. from earlier classes) and previous experiences (e.g. observations) which can facilitate or impede learning. Taber classifies misconceptions according to their origin as a type of "impediment" to learning, for which there are two general types, each with subtypes. Null impediment refers to missing information (necessary for learning new material) due to students: 1) not having prior knowledge (deficiency) or; 2) not recognizing links between new material and their prior existing knowledge (transfer). Substantive impediment refers to faulty concept models of students from: 1) observations or personal experience or (experiential); 2) prior courses and teaching (pedagogic) and; 3) bending or misinterpreting of new concepts to fit prior knowledge (misinterpretive). In this paper on research-to-practice we address the question of what learning strategies are most effective in repairing misconceptions or "impediments" of different origin.