Using microscience kits to address a student-teacher misconception in electric circuits: At the interface between chemistry and electricity

Abstract

A test of education students’ understanding of electric circuits, written before their lectures on the topic began, led to practical work with micro-scale circuit apparatus that was designed to further probe and challenge the students’ misconceptions. Response data from one of the lab pracs revealed one very common misconception, that the current through a component was the cause of the potential difference across it. A practical activity based upon the Volta pile was designed to show that current is not the cause of voltage, and that voltage is to be traced to the chemical reaction inside the cells. While some aspects of the activity were successful in a workshop at 10th ISMC, others were not. Our reflections on the outcome lead us to the conclusion that it is necessary to engage with the chemical events inside the cell, in order to understand how it works. Systems-thinking may be the way forward.