This UK-based study reports on the effect of a tailored teaching sequence specifically targeting electric current misconceptions held by a secondary school class. The misconceptions were identified through interviews and practical techniques, addressed through the teaching course and reassessed through further interviews.

Evidence-based suggestions

• Teaching sequences should address the commonly identified misconceptions held by students, including:
  • (a) bipolarity and the rule of circuit closure; circulation model of current;
  • (b) some differentiation of electrical energy and electric current;
  • (c) conservation of current
  • (d) relationship of current and resistance (very simply).
• Assess students’ prior understanding and their misconceptions to help with lesson planning.

Learners’ ideas

• Students may think that a single connection to a lamp will light it rather than needing a complete circuit.
• Many students used a ‘clashing current’ description of why a lamp lights up with two connections, believing that the current travels to the lamps from both directions.
• Students often fail to discriminate between the terms 'electricity', 'current', 'power' or 'energy'.

Further suggestions

• Students should master the concept of conservation of current and energy before attempting to discuss more complex ideas such as Ohm’s law.

Study Structure

Aims

To assess the development and implementation of an introductory course on electric circuits based on a constructivist model of curriculum development and teaching.

Evidence collection

Students built circuits, explained them in interviews, underwent corrective learning, and were re-interviewed to measure understanding changes.

Details of the sample

The sample consisted of a class of 17 pupils aged 11-12 years in an inner-city middle school.