Studying mistakes, myths, outdated, erroneous concepts about the structure, functioning and role of plants for use in the educational process
The natural-scientific picture of the world formation among pupils occurs gradually during the learning process due to the assimilation of the actual material of educational programs, the identification of patterns, the development of functional literacy. However, this process is under continuous pressure from the surrounding information environment, which often distorts and simplifies the knowledge system. In this paper, various misconceptions are collected and analyzed, including those identified when communicating with teachers, students and pupils, and related to the study of botany. The most common myths, controversial facts that require further study, and the results of current research have been selected. A search has been made for modern scientific information that allows to refute misconceptions, find the correct formulations, and, if possible, explain the sources of the origin of myths. The study revealed fairly persistent examples that have been circulating in various sources of information for many decades. With seeming "harmlessness", such a widespread occurrence can significantly distort pupils' ideas about the world around them. So, for example, the vast majority of pupils surveyed are sure that all the oxygen in the earth's atmosphere is produced by terrestrial vegetation, and by the location of moss on a tree trunk, one can determine the cardinal directions in the forest in the absence of other landmarks. Trust in the truth of memorable cliches ("if I heard it, then it’s true") contributes to the development of tolerance for other logical distortions. Instead of the appropriate recognition of one's own ignorance and the search for the necessary information, there is an acceptance of simplified formulations that penetrate into the child's consciousness from preschool age, for example, when watching cartoons. This work is intended to focus the teachers’ attention to the issue of an adequate natural-scientific picture of the world formation quality, the development of exploratory thinking, the critical perception of factual information coming from various sources. Possession of a list of these myths and material for debunking them can be used by the teacher to improve the educational process, compose test tasks, quizzes, conduct final lessons in various formats, including analysis and discussion of answer options.