Teachers' misconceptions of the circulatory system

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Abstract
This article explores why teachers, like their students, show serious misunderstandings of the circulatory system. The implications of this problem and remedies are considered Most of the teachers participating in an in-service teacher training programme demonstrated a number of misconceptions of the circulatory system. They did not understand the relationships between flow rate, blood pressure, and vessel diameter. This led to the formation of erroneous ideas on the properties of capillaries. They had unclear ideas of the role of formation and withdrawal of tissue fluid at the capillary plexus, and showed a poor understanding of the mechanism for exchange of materials between the blood and body cells. The findings revealed that many biology teachers may not possess adequate subject knowledge for teaching the secondary curriculum. Teacher training programmes should promote teachers' awareness of the nature and impact of children's misconceptions in science learning. Teachers' understanding in biological knowledge should be strengthened so that they would not propagate or perpetuate misconceptions.