ABSTRACT
Chi and Roscoe (2002) proposed that one reason for the persistence of scientific misconceptions is that students classify scientific phenomena into incorrect ontological categories. In particular, Chi (submitted) has hypothesized that many commonly misunderstood science concepts (like evolution and electric current) are emergent processes in which a macro-level phenomena emerges from complex interactions between entities at a micro-level. Rather than correctly categorizing them this way, students are thought to miscategorize them as non-emergent processes in which there is a more direct relationship between the two levels.
