In reviewing the literature some misconceptions related to waves are listed below: (http://www.project2061.org/publications/bsl/online/index.php?chapter=15&section=C
&band=4#4) The majority of elementary students and some middle-school students who have not received any
systematic instruction about light tend to identify light with its source (e.g., light is in the bulb) or its effects
(e.g., patch of light). They do not have a notion of light as something that travels from one place to another.
As a result, these students have difficulties explaining the direction and formation of shadows, and the
reflection of light by objects. For example, some students simply note the similarity of shape between the
object and the shadow or say that the object hides the light. Middle-school students often accept that
mirrors reflect light but, at least in some situations, reject the idea that ordinary objects reflect light
(Guesne, 1985; Ramadas & Driver, 1989). Many elementary- and middle-school students do not believe
that their eyes receive light when they look at an object. Students' conceptions of vision vary from the
notion that light fills space ("the room is full of light") and the eye "sees" without anything linking it to the
object to the idea that light illuminates surfaces that we can see by the action of our eyes on them (Guesne,
1985). The conception that the eye sees without anything linking it to the object persists after traditional
instruction in optics (Guesne, 1985); however, some 5th-graders can understand seeing as "detecting"
reflected light after specially designed instruction (Anderson & Smith, 1983).
When students explain changes, they tend to postulate a cause that produces a chain of effects one after
another (Driver et al., 1985). In considering a container being heated, students think of the process in
directional terms with a source applying heat to the receptor. From a scientific point of view, of course, the
situation is symmetrical, with two systems interacting, one gaining energy and the other losing it (Driver et
al., 1985). Concentrating on the inputs and outputs of a system often requires a different, time-independent
view, which students may not take to be an explanation. Students often do not seem to appreciate that the
idea of energy conservation may help explain phenomena. Studies reporting students' difficulties with
energy conservation suggest students should have opportunities to describe systems both as sequences of
changes over time and as energy inputs and outputs (a systems approach) (Brook & Driver, 1984).
Student explanations of material change seldom include certain kinds of causes that are central to a
scientific understanding of the world (Brosnan, 1990); for instance, that parts interact to produce wholes
that have properties the parts do not. For children, wholes are like their parts. Brosnan (1990) summarizes
all this by presenting two stereotypical views of the nature of change—the common-sense view and the
scientific view (pp. 208-209):
MISCONCEPTIONS AND PRECONCEPTIONS
IN INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS (phys.udallas.edu/C3P/Preconceptions.pdf)
The following is a list of preconceptions and misconceptions that high school
physics teachers and college professors have recognized in their students.
13. HARMONIC MOTION
The period of oscillation depends on the amplitude.
The restoring force is constant at all points in the oscillation.
The heavier a pendulum bob, the shorter its period.
All pendulum motion is perfect simple harmonic motion, for any initial angle.
Harmonic oscillators go forever.
A pendulum accelerates through lowest point of its swing.
Amplitude of oscillations is measured peak-to-peak.
The acceleration is zero at the end points of the motion of a pendulum.
14. INTRODUCTION TO WAVES
Waves transport matter.
There must be a medium for a wave to travel through.
Waves do not have energy.
All waves travel the same way.
Frequency is connected to loudness for all amplitudes.
Big waves travel faster than small waves in the same medium.
Different colors of light are different types of waves.
Pitch is related to intensity.
15. WAVE NATURE OF LIGHT
Light just is and has no origin.
Light is a particle.
Light is a mixture of particles and waves.
Light waves and radio waves are not the same thing.
In refraction, the characteristics of light change.
The speed of light never changes.
Rays and wave fronts are the same thing.
There is no interaction between light and matter.
The addition of all colors of light yields black.
Double slit interference shows light wave crest and troughs.
Light exits in the crest of a wave and dark in the trough.
In refraction, the frequency (color) of light changes.
Refraction is the bending of waves.
Common Misconceptions about Sound (top)
Hapkiewicz, A. (1992). Finding a List of Science Misconceptions. MSTA Newsletter, 38(Winter’92), pp.11-14.
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Sounds can be produced without using any material objects.
Hitting an object harder changes the pitch of the sound produced.
Human voice sounds are produced by a large number of vocal cords that
all produce different sounds.
Loudness and pitch of sounds are the same things.
You can see and hear a distinct event at the same moment.
Sounds can travel through empty space (a vacuum).
Sounds cannot travel through liquids and solids.
Sounds made by vehicles (like the whistle of a train) change as the
vehicles move past the listener because something (like the train engineer)
purposely changes the pitch of the sound.
In wind instruments, the instrument itself vibrates (not the internal air
column).
Music is strictly an art form; it has nothing to do with science.
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Sound waves are transverse waves (like water and light waves).
Matter moves along with water waves as the waves move through a body
of water.
When waves interact with a solid surface, the waves are destroyed.
In actual telephones, sounds (rather than electrical impulses) are carried
through the wires.
Ultrasounds are extremely loud sounds.
Megaphones create sounds.
Noise pollution is annoying, but it is essentially harmless.
Common Misconceptions about LIGHT (top)
Hapkiewicz, A. (1992). Finding a List of Science Misconceptions. MSTA Newsletter, 38(Winter’92), pp.11-14.
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Light is associated only with a source and/or its instantaneous effects.
Light is not considered to exist independently in space. Light is not
conceived as moving from one point to another with a finite speed.
An object is seen whenever light shines on it, with no recognition that
light must move between the object and the observer's eye.
A shadow is something that exists on its own. Light pushes the shadow
away from the object to a wall, the ground, or other surface where the
shadow lies. Shadows are "dark reflections" of objects.
Light is not necessarily conserved. It may disappear or be intensified.
Lines drawn outward from a light bulb in a sketch represent the "glow"
surrounding the bulb. Light from a bulb only extends outward a certain
distance and then stops. How far it extends depends on the brightness of
the bulb.
An observe can see more of his or her mirror image by moving further
back from the mirror.
The mirror image of an object is located on the surface of the mirror. The
image is often thought of as a picture on a flat or curved surface. To be
seen in a mirror, the object must be directly in front of the mirror or in the
line-of-sight from the observer to the mirror.
Light is reflected away from shiny surfaces, but light is not reflected from
other surfaces.
Light always passes straight through transparent material (without
changing direction).
When an object is viewed through a transparent material, the object is seen
exactly where it is located.
An object gives off a "potential image," which travels through space.
When the "potential image" reaches a mirror, the image is reversed. Also,
the image is distorted by a curved mirror. When the "potential image"
reaches a lens, the image may be turned upside down by the lens.
12. Blocking part of the lens surface would block the corresponding part of the image.
13. The purpose of the screen is to capture the image so that it can be seen. Without a screen,
there is not image.
14. An image can be seen on the screen regardless of where the screen is placed relative to a
lens. To see a larger image on the screen, the screen should be moved further back.
15. An image is always formed at the focal point of a lens.
16. The size of an image depends on the size (diameter) of the lens used to formed the image.
17. Gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light, infrared light, microwaves, and radio
waves are all very different entities.
18. Colors appearing on soap films and oil slicks are reflections of rainbows.
19. Polaroid sunglasses are just dark glass or dark plastic.
20. When waves or pulses interfere (as in a spring, rope, water wave, or light wave) they
bounce off each other and go back in the opposite direction from which they came.
21. When a wave moves, particles move along with the wave from the point of transmission
to the point of reception.
22. Color is a property of an object, and color is not affected by the eye-brain system or other
receiving system.
Hapkiewicz, A. (1999). Naïve Ideas in Earth Science. MSTA Journal, 44(2) (Fall’99), pp.26-30. http://www.msta-mich.org
23. Light fills the room as water fills a bathtub. No mechanisms between the light, the object
and the eye produces vision.
24. The primary colors for mixing colored lights are red, blue, and yellow. Common Misconceptions about Color and Vision (top)
Hapkiewicz, A. (1992). Finding a List of Science Misconceptions. MSTA Newsletter, 38(Winter’92), pp.11-14.
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The pupil of the eye is a black spot on the surface of the eye.
The eye perceives upright images.
The lens is the only part of the eye responsible for focusing light.
The lens forms a picture on the retina. The brain then “locks” at this picture.
They eye is the only organ necessary for sight.
A white incandescent or fluorescent bulb produces light of only one color.
Sunlight is different from other sources of light because it is colorless and clear.
When light passes through a prism, color is added to the light.
When light passes through a filter, color is added to the light.
The rules for mixing color paints and crayons are the same as the rules for mixing colored
lights.
The primary colors for mixing colored lights are red, blue, and yellow.
A Colored light striking an object produces a shadow behind it that is the same color as
the light.
The shades of gray in a printed picture are produced with a gray ink for each shade.
The colors in a printed picture are produced with an ink for each color.
Colored light is darker than white light.
Color is a property of an object, and color is not affected by the illuminating light. The
“true” color of an abject is seen in white light. When colored light illuminates a colored
object, the color of the light mixes with the color of the object.