Current+(student+work+analysis)

Context for Abby's class

- mostly honors physics students (good at science) - all seniors or juniors - all come from feeder public & private schools - mostly upper socio economic background - Northern California - mostly white and asian, a couple hispanic

Comments

- familiar with a battery connecting to a light bulb to light - "If you connect them, the light bulb will light up." - Some talk about flow, some don't. Within that, some talk about direction, most don't. - Energy is mentioned in a couple of comments (from the battery) - Some talk about charge and electrons. - Front page didn't ask about the current - good to get the crazy misconceptions, but it doesn't draw out the understanding of current. It worked more about the basic understanding of circuits. - Want to see something that gives us more evidence about what is going on inside the circuit. "Explain what happens once you connect the wires (after you find an arrangement that works.)" Also, "explain what happens between the moment you flip on the light switch and the light goes on". - A lot of the students are able to draw on previous experience (ex. the car battery, positive and negative sides of a battery).

Context for Jenn's class - three different groups: AP class had just finished a unit on electricity. Most got a correct answer, except for maybe understanding how the light bulb worked. - 1st period physics class hand't been taught any physics. - grad students, all non science teachers.

Context for Lindsay's class - science teachers who have seen this problem (and maybe the solution) before.

Comments

- wire wrapping around the bulb (what is this student thinking?) is different from placing the bulb on the wire - three strips of wire - could this mean a misunderstanding of what wires do? - sandwich between bulb, wire, and battery terminal (knew the configuration should work, but didn't have a good understanding of why). - positive and negative electrons working together - circuit needs to form a single direction current - many talk about positive and negative being important. - some mention a continuous flow of current being important. - might also be helpful to have a better picture of a light bulb (or actual physical objects). - this assessment may also be testing students' knowledge of a light bulb & how it works. Also it focuses too much on the idea of a complete circuit, whereas we want to delve more deeply into the idea of what's going on inside the circuit.

Video One - Good understanding of something moving in the circuit to produce electricity - Battery vs. electricity: Battery has electricity trapped inside, but the electricity in a house is all around us!

Video Two As long as the bulb is touching the wire….then it will light. Energy flows, there is a reaction in the light bulb