Some References for Electricity Misconception Research
At last we can understand the obscure mystery of electric circuits. Just ignore usual approach and instead look at the details of surface charge and "static electricity." See this paper by Chabay and Sherwood (.pdf), (arcv)
On of the few books which explain "electricity" correctly:
" Basic Electricity JE-101" by Gene McWhorter, 1984, a RADIO SHACK book (out of print! Rats! Try his later version, The Electricity Book)
For a K-12 classroom textbook which is far above average, try Prentice Hall's "Science Explorer" series, the volume on "Electricity and Magnetism" by Dr. C. Wainwright of the excellent CASTLE project. This one dates from 2007, and lacks the misconceptions I discuss on this site. I don't know if later Prentice Hall editions lack these errors. Wainwright isn't a listed author on the other editions, and few authors are aware of the enormous textbook misconceptions problem (or even aware of their own misconceptions.)
There Are No Electrons, Ken Amdahl
Very fascinating story-telling method for explaining basic electricity and electronics
Paperback on Lightning (and misconceptions), for the general public:
All About Lightning, Dr Martin A. Uman
An excellent college-level physics texbook:
ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC INTERACTIONS, by Chabay/Sherwood
It unifies "static electricity" with the rest of circuit theory, and promotes lots of "intuitive/conceptual" reasoning rather than pure math
A large, excellent collection of research papers on electricity misconceptions:
ASPECTS OF UNDERSTANDING ELECTRICITY: PROCEEDINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP, R. Duit, W. Jung, C. von Roneck (Eds),(Order it through interlibrary loan!)
Verlag Schmidt & Klaunig, 1985 (QC530.A78 1985)
Meaningful Learning Reseach Group:
- Proceedings of The 1st Int'l Seminar - Misconceptions and Educational Strategies in Science and Mathematics. Dr. Joseph Novak, MLRG
- 2nd Int'l Seminar
- 3rd Int'l Seminar
- 4th Int'l Seminar
- Ordering info (CDROM too!)
LINKS
- List of Students' physics misconceptions U. Dallas C3P project
- Paul B's Misconceptions References
- Chabay & Sherwood's References on the role of "static electricity" in electrical circuitry
- Misconceptions within textbooks, a list contributed by subscribers of the PHYS-L physics education group
Some Papers:
- A study of science-in-the-making as students generate an analogy for electricity (1995) Mark Cosgrove, University of Technology, Sydney
- Learning and Understanding Key Concepts of ElectricityReinders Duit, Christoph von Rhöneck
- Teaching Intro Electricity, D> Psillos
- Connecting Research in Physics Edu. with Teacher Edu.
McDermott, L.C. & van Zee, E.H. (1984). Identifying and addressing student difficulties with electric circuits. Proceedings of the International Workshop: Aspects of Understanding Electricity, Pdagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, W. Germany, pp. 39-4
Shipstone, D. (1988). Pupils' understanding of simple electrical circuits: Some implications for instruction. Physics Education, 23(2):92-96.
Some misc. Electronics Books I recommend
