E.12.A Misconceptions

Table 5. Scientific Understandings and Misconceptions about the Season and Heating of the Earth

Rather than thinking . . . . / Many students think . . . / NV Content Standard
Seasonal variation is a result of the Earth’s alignment on its axis. / Seasons are caused by the Earth’s distance from the Sun (Harvard-Smithsonian, 1985; Philips, 1991; Rastovac & Slavsky, 1986; Schoon, 1989, 1995).
Possible source of misconception when closer to a heat source one notices an increase in temperature - this means Earth must be closer to the Sun when it is hotter. / E.12.A.1
E.12.A.5
Winds are produced by the uneven heating of Earth's surface andthe resulting rise and fall of differentially heated air masses. / Clouds block wind and slow it down (Moyle, 1980 as cited in Dove, 1998).
Cold temperatures produce fast winds (Moyle, 1980 as cited in Dove, 1998). / E.12.A.5
Infrared light is bright but invisible light. When light of any sort is absorbed by an object the object gets heated. / Infrared is "heat radiation", not light (Beatty, 2000).
Infrared is the only type of light that, when absorbed, causes objects to heat.
Infrared light is not a kind of heat. (Beatty, 2000) / E.12.A.1
E.12.A.4
Heat is a form of energy. This energy (thermal energy) can be transfered from one object to another. When objects absorb thermal energy their temperature increases. / Heat acts as a fluid (Erickson & Tiberghein, 1985; Stepans, 1994).
Heat is a substance which can be added to or removed from an object (Stepans, 1994; Watts, 1983).
Heat makes things rise (Stepans, 1994).
Cold is opposite to heat (Stepans, 1994).
Possible source of misconception: nonscientific use of the terms heat and temperature add confusion to this topic. Kinetic molecular theory is too abstract and has little effect at transforming students' ideas. / E.12.A.4
Energy is a measure of a system's capacity to do work. Energy has several forms. / Energy is a fluid which flows between places and/or objects. It is human dependent (Watts, 1983). / E.12.A.4

Table 6. Scientific Understandings and Misconceptions about Global Warming & the Greenhouse Effect

Rather than thinking . . . . / Many students think . . . / NV Content Standard
Gases in the atmosphere are able to absorb and reflect radiated heat from earth back to the Earth’s surface. Some of the heat they absorb does get radiated to space but some gets radiated back towards earth. Suppression of convection is the main factor responsible for higher temperatures in green houses and closed cars.
Some suggest that this phenomena should be called the atmospheric effect instead of the greenhouse effect. / The greenhouse effect is caused when gases in the atmosphere behave as a blanket and trap radiation which is then reradiated to the Earth (Fraser, 2000).
Absorption by the glass in greenhouses is the main factor responsible for higher temperatures inside (Beatty, 2000).
The blanket analogyis not a bad one but students need to see where the analogy breaks down. / E.12.A.3
E.12.A.4
Global warming is the name given to the phenomena whereby the surface of the earth gets hotter.
Our planet is warmer with an atmosphere than it would be without. This phenomena has been given the name Greenhouse Effect. The atmosphere is different than a greenhouse in that it radiates energy back to Earth rather than simply trapping energy inside. / Global warming and the greenhouse effect are the same thing (Fraser, 2000; Smith & Ford, 1996).
Possible source of misconception: the greenhouse effect and global warming are often mentioned together in the press. This causes many to link them and think they are interchangeable. / E.12.A.3
E.12.A.4
Without an atmosphere Earth would receive significantly less heat; life as we know it would not exist. The Greenhouse Effect, therefore, is not a bad thing. / The greenhouse effect is bad and will eventually cause all living things to die (Hocking, Sneider, Erickson & Golden, 1990). / E.12.A.3
The temperature of a given day is dependent upon many different things including time of year, location, altitude, prevailing winds, etc.
The snow and ice are functions of cold temperatures, not the cause of them. / Cold days are caused by the clouds covering the sun (Russell et al, 1993 as cited in Dove, 1998).
Snow and ice make it cold (Piaget, 1929).
Ozone can be beneficial or harmful, depending upon where it is located in the atmosphere. Ozone in the upper atmosphere blocks out damaging UV radiation. Ozone in the lower atmosphere (near earth’s surface) is a major constituent of smog. / Ozone, no matter its location, is bad.
Ozone, no matter its location, is good / E.12.A.3
The ‘ozone hole’ is an area of the atmosphere where the ozone levels are lower than expected. / The ozone hole is a hole in the sky. / E.12.A.3

Tables Modified from

“Children's misconceptions about weather: A review of the literature”

Paper presented by Laura Henriques at the annual meeting of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching, New Orleans, LA, April 29, 2000.

P.12.A.1 Misconceptions

Instead of thinking / Many Students Believe… / NV Content Standard
The temperature of ice can change once liquid water has solidified / Ice cannot change temperature. / P.12.A.1
Phase changes occur at constant temperatures. This is a very common idea held by students. To deal with this misconception, place water in a test-tube. Place a thermometer in the water. Place the whole system in a beaker with an ice/salt/water mixture. Have the students watch the temperature. This would also work nicely as a computer/temperature probe demonstration. / Change of State occurs over a range of temperatures / P.12.A.1
In fact, the difference between the solid and liquid particles at the melting point is a difference in the forms of kinetic energy (translation, rotation, vibration). The liquid particles also have added potential energy due to the fact that they have been moved a distance apart. / At the melting point of a crystalline substance, the particles that have turned liquid are moving faster than the particles that are still in the solid phase. / P.12.A.1
Students never seem to think of iron freezing at a very high temperature, but that is exactly what any material does as it passes from the liquid to solid phase, no matter what the temperature is when this process takes place. / Substances are always cold when they freeze. / P.12.A.1
For example, students find it difficult to picture iron in the gaseous state or mercury in the solid state. They usually think of water only as a liquid, and need to be jogged to think of ice or water vapor. At liquid nitrogen temperatures, it is possible to drive a rubber nail into a wooden board with a mercury hammer. / The phase in which substances exist at normal temperatures is the phase in which they always exist. / P.12.A.1
The freezing and boiling points are dependent upon many things, especially the prevailing pressure and the purity of the substance. / The freezing point and boiling point of substances are fixed points and never vary. (Water always boils at 100 °C.) / P.12.A.1
The molecules of a gas sample stay the same size, but distances between the molecules get larger when the sample expands. / When a gas expands the particles get larger. / P.12.A.1

P.12.C Misconceptions

Rather than thinking . . . . / Many students think . . . / NV Content Standard
Energy is associated only with movement / P.12.C.2
Heat is a substance.
Heat is not energy.
Temperature is a property of a particular material or object. (Metal is naturally cooler than plastic).
The temperature of an object depends on its size.
Heat and cold are different, rather than being opposite ends of a continuum.
When temperature at boiling remains constant, something is "wrong".
Boiling is the maximum temperature a substance can reach.
Ice cannot change temperature.
Objects of different temperature that are in contact with each other, or in contact with air at different temperature, do not necessarily move toward the same temperature.
Heat only travels upward.
Heat rises.
The kinetic theory does not really explain heat transfer. (It is recited but not believed).
Objects that readily become warm (conductors of heat) do not readily become cold. / P.12.C.5
Some students may think that these words have the same meaning or that more heat means higher temperature. / "Heat" and "temperature" can be used synonymously / P.12.C.5
The sensation of hotness is also due to heat transfer towards the body. / The sensation of coldness to due to transfer of cold towards the body / P.12.C.2
P.12.C.5
There are no degrees of conductivity (there are only insulators and conductors) / P.12.C.2
P.12.C.5
Energy is found only in living things / P.12.C.2
Electric current is a flow of energy / P.12.C.2
P.12.C.6
The “electricity” that flows in wires is supplied by generators. / P.12.C.6
Energy is created as the result of an activity. / P.12.C.2
Energy is a fuel. / P.12.C.2

From Driver 1986;