Myths: making mistakes is worth

Abstract

So that humans can understand the world and act on it in an efficient way, adapted representations of occurring phenomena must be constructed, especially from scientific knowledge. We have to help young people to acquire this knowledge allowing them to make mistakes, working from their everyday ideas. Making mistakes obliges us to question our own ideas and makes us cope with reality, facing it in a different way. Learning from the mistakes is the real virtue of knowledge. This way, school doesn’t have to replace the students’ misconceptions, however it has to work from them, considering practical situations where children ask themselves appropriated questions that will let them rework their representations. This is the role of teachers, being architects of experimental situations and guides of conceptual change.