Misconceptions

Findings from academic literature about common misunderstandings that children have and suggestions for identifying and challenging them in the classroom.

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Many students have vague ideas about what light is as they have not been given accurate, age-appropriate definitions, or have been given conflicting definitions

Many students do not recognise light as an entity between a source and the effect it produces

Many students struggle to understand that a light ray is (most often) just a model used to depict the behaviour of light

Some students consider darkness as important a concept as light e.g. shadows can exist on their own

Some students believe shadows are a reflection of an object and therefore always expect the shape of a shadow to be the same shape as the object

Some students depict light around sources with short lines

When constructing ray diagrams or when asked to draw the path of light students rarely draw the lines from source to object

Many students will be familiar with light being described in 'bits' and being contained to specific areas

Many students confuse the effects of changing the amplitude and frequency of a sound wave on the pitch and volume of the sound

Some students consider light as separate from seeing

Some students believe light is intentionally designed to allow us to see

Some students believe light has different modes or kinds and sometimes even that these different 'kinds' of light in different circumstances can behave differently

Misconceptions

Many students have vague ideas about what light is as they have not been given accurate, age-appropriate definitions, or have been given conflicting definitions

Many students do not recognise light as an entity between a source and the effect it produces

Many students struggle to understand that a light ray is (most often) just a model used to depict the behaviour of light

Some students consider darkness as important a concept as light e.g. shadows can exist on their own

Some students believe shadows are a reflection of an object and therefore always expect the shape of a shadow to be the same shape as the object

Some students depict light around sources with short lines

When constructing ray diagrams or when asked to draw the path of light students rarely draw the lines from source to object

Many students will be familiar with light being described in 'bits' and being contained to specific areas

Many students confuse the effects of changing the amplitude and frequency of a sound wave on the pitch and volume of the sound

Some students consider light as separate from seeing

Some students believe light is intentionally designed to allow us to see

Some students believe light has different modes or kinds and sometimes even that these different 'kinds' of light in different circumstances can behave differently

Misconceptions

Many students have vague ideas about what light is as they have not been given accurate, age-appropriate definitions, or have been given conflicting definitions

Many students do not recognise light as an entity between a source and the effect it produces

Many students struggle to understand that a light ray is (most often) just a model used to depict the behaviour of light

Some students consider darkness as important a concept as light e.g. shadows can exist on their own

Some students believe shadows are a reflection of an object and therefore always expect the shape of a shadow to be the same shape as the object

Some students depict light around sources with short lines

When constructing ray diagrams or when asked to draw the path of light students rarely draw the lines from source to object

Many students will be familiar with light being described in 'bits' and being contained to specific areas

Many students confuse the effects of changing the amplitude and frequency of a sound wave on the pitch and volume of the sound

Some students consider light as separate from seeing

Some students believe light is intentionally designed to allow us to see

Some students believe light has different modes or kinds and sometimes even that these different 'kinds' of light in different circumstances can behave differently

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