How Electricity Misconceptions are Formed

Students often form many different misconceptions about electricity.  One way that misconceptions about electricity are formed is through elementary science textbooks.  Sadly, not all of the information in elementary science textbooks is true.  Even when science textbooks are true, they are typically not enough to debunk myths that students have learned about electricity from their parents and others.  One student recently told me that his dad said that the size of the battery does not affect its capacity for power, only its length of life.  When such misconceptions are constantly reinforced in the home and other environments, it takes more than just lectures and worksheets to correct them.  Although many great hands-on activities exist which demonstrate the true properties of electricity, many teachers do not involve their students in these activities.  This does not provide students with the concrete experience they need to correct their misconceptions they have formed about electricity. 

This website below will guide you through the misconceptions that are found in many elementary science textbooks.  The website is divided into electricity misconceptions, electromagnetic misconceptions and electric current misconceptions.  The man who published this website is named William J. Beaty.  He is a research engineer who is an HV/ Specialist, Lecturer, Science Exhibit Designer, Textbook Consultant, and Amateur Physicist.

http://amasci.com/miscon/elect.html  

One reason that students have misconceptions about electricity is the fact that electricity is not a simple concept to understand.  The teacher in the video below explains the difficulty of teaching complex concepts in electricity in the elementary classroom.  Be forewarned if you are going to show this video to a class make sure you open it beforehand and close the comments as they contain inappropriate language. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1re2XtuJQm8

Bad information in textbooks, a lack of teacher understanding, a lack of hands-on classroom experience, myths passed on by parents, the complexity of the concept; all of these contribute to misconceptions of electricity.  Teachers should not lose hope though.  Electricity misconceptions can be identified, and properly debunked with the correct approach.

Another website to help you define reasons these misconceptions are formed and what those misconceptions are is in the link below.  William Beaty is also the author of this website. He gives you a list of seven misconceptions and then breaks them down into the reason they are misconceptions. 

http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/miscon/eleca.html 

Developers of this page

Current group members (first names only): Loree (spring '09)

All editors and writers(first names only): Amanda, Shelley, Loree and Jason (Spring '09)

All editors and writers (first names only): David, Rachel, and Jason (Spring '08)

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