From the viewpoint of constructivism, learning is not always achieved as educators teach. Learners make up new knowledge on the basis of the prior knowledge they have, the one they obtained from experience before learning. This knowledge creation process isn't exposed externally as it is conducted within learner's cognitive structure. Therefore, an educator has a difficulty in concluding whether the prior knowledge learners have is correct or not, and whether knowledgecreation process includes mistakes or not. That is why science teachers have to observe the process through which students learn by using their prior knowledge and understand whether the conception and new one are correct or not. According to these necessities, we investigated the prior knowledge and misconception exposed to writing.
This study was conducted in a private educational institution for four months and three elementary pupils were tested. The subjects of writing which possibly induce interest for learners and are accessible from STS(Science-Technology-Society) concept, were chosen. The class was carried on for two hours. The educator and learners discussed the writing subjects before writing was conducted.
The pupils conducted writing while making proper use of their prior knowledge to solve the given topics. In writing a composition on , pupils linked with the topic the conception that alveoli are spherical and used the prior knowledge of the gas
exchange between blood and cellular tissue, which showed that the prior knowledge are able to be observed much more concretely in writing than in the discussion before writing.
We picked out the misconception the pupils had from the observation of the process through which they use prior knowledge. As an example, we observed that they took a molecule and an atomic nucleus for anelectron and an atom, respectively in writing on . That is, we found out that writing is very useful in a viewpoint that educators are able to infer what causes misconception observed in writing and to correct it. So writing makes courses focus learners'activities and it can also become a useful tool for motivation.