Encourage scientific literacy- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvFOeysaNAY
Chris.
Here is a list of questions that people frequently answer incorrectly. Learning and understanding the correct answers to these questions is an enjoyable process-you and your children might be amazed.
Where do trees get their mass from?
How long does it take for the Earth to orbit the Sun?
Which falls faster, a medicine ball or a basketball?
Can your sense of touch be reliably used to determine which of two objects is colder?
Is the Earth closer to the Sun during January or July?
Is the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth greater, equal or less than the Earth’s gravitational pull on the Moon?
How old is the Earth?
Where do trees get their mass from is answered here- if you’re lucky you will learn something new and be amazed by the answer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZb2_vcNTg
Chris.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqDbMEdLiCs
Whenever possible you should allow your child to figure things out for themselves. You should avoid just giving them the answers.
Chris.
Is the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Earth greater, equal or less than the Earth’s gravitational pull on the Moon? Newton’s Third Law provides the answer-for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The statement means that in every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the two interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the second object. Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-reaction force pairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO6B0yx3FHE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bTdMmNZm2M
Chris.
Thank you, Chris.
Very nice, Chris, thank you for sharing!
Thanks Skylark and Tamsyn.
Science can be difficult to teach to children because much of reality is counter intuitive. I guess that we need to identify the misconceptions that our children hold before we can adequately teach these basic concepts. Misconceptions are barriers to understanding and interfere with subsequent learning. I am attempting to cover fundamental concepts with these videos.
Here is an example of a common misconception-young children frequently hear their parents say that the sun is rising or setting, leading them to conclude that the sun orbits the earth. Children naturally form mental models of the world based on their observations. Rejecting these intuitive mental frameworks can be difficult for young children. As parents you will need to identity misconceptions and then help your child to reconstruct their conceptual frame work.
You might find this counter intuitive-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwf3msm7rqM&NR=1&list=PL9AF34445CF61751F&feature=endscreen
The Inverse Square Law is very easy to understand and is encountered in several areas of science. A child who is aware of this law will find it easier to understand Newton’s law of gravitational attraction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-xNMdIXJIs
Chris.
Which falls faster, a medicine ball or a basketball? Common misconceptions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mCC-68LyZM
Two videos on Inertia-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgAQV05fPEk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkUNrSCNMg&NR=1&feature=endscreen
Chris.
I hope that you find these videos useful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJc4DEkSq4I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph8xusY3GTM&NR=1&feature=fvwp
Chris.
Nice Thanks chris. Karma to you!
Scientific general knowledge and scientific spelling were the only areas school thought I could work on with my kiddo. We have started reading science books but I think some background knowledge will make the reading more enjoyable. So thank you!
Hi Mandabplus3,
Glad that you have found these videos useful. Heat and temperature are also frequently misunderstood by children. If you take two identical glasses of water and added ice to one of the glasses, that glass will have the greater heat. This is because you have added material to that glass.
Heat and temperature are different things;
•Temperature is related to how fast the atoms within a substance are moving.
•Heat is a measure of how many atoms there are in a substance multiplied by how much energy each atom possesses.
Things can be at the same temperature and have different amounts of heat.
Hope that you enjoy these videos-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXTDn59SAjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NW_q52zbY
Chris.
Thank you for all the video chris… really informative
Hi Sashimani,
Good to hear that you enjoyed these videos. Here is another-
“the mysterious case of the stick that did not tip.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whOi2qu090Y
Chris.
.
“State certification for teaching science might well include making sure that new teachers are aware of the common student misconceptions that they will encounter, as well as being proficient in the underlying science,” American humorist-philosopher Will Rogers observed: It ain’t what they don’t know that gives them trouble, it’s what they know that ain’t so."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-student-weaknesses-science-teachers-pupils.html#jCp
Harvard graduates explain the seasons. http://youtu.be/p0wk4qG2mIg
Chris
The Harvard graduates were unable to answer the question about the seasons because of a misconception about how the Earth orbits the Sun.
Like all planets in our solar system, the Earth is in an elliptical orbit around our Sun. In the Earth’s case, its orbit is nearly circular, so that the difference between Earth’s farthest point from the Sun and its closest point is very small.
How old is the Earth?
Here is another video of graduates and children getting it wrong. Most kids never get beyond their misconceptions and consequently science doesn’t make much sense to them.
How teaching may fail to address students’ misconceptions in science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeWjMxY5-Kg
Chris.
Take a look at these free educational simulations. They are available in various languages and cover a wide range of topics. http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/new
These MIT students have not developed an appropriate understanding of the fundamental concepts of electricity. Misconceptions impede future learning because new experiences and information are interpreted through these erroneous understandings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ve23i5K334
Chris.
There are a lot of misconceptions regarding electric circuits.
You might be surprised to discover that these five statements are all false.
- When an electrochemical cell no longer works, it is out of charge and must be recharged before it can be used again.
- An electrochemical cell can be a source of charge in a circuit. The charge that flows through the circuit originates in the cell.
- Charge becomes used up as it flows through a circuit. The amount of charge that exits a light bulb is less than the amount that enters the light bulb.
- Charge flows through circuits at very high speeds. This explains why the light bulb turns on immediately after the wall switch is flipped.
- The local electrical utility company supplies millions and millions of electrons to our homes everyday.
A battery does not supply the charges, copper wire is composed of charges and the battery merely pumps the negative charges around the circuit. This negative electric charge flows very slowly. Total charge is always conserved and cannot be either created or destroyed.
The energy in electric circuits is not carried by individual electrons. Electric energy travels at close to the speed of light moving along the columns of electrons. The energy is carried by the circuit as a whole and not by the individual charged particles. Electric charge flow and electric energy flow are different things. Electric energy travels in wave form-electron compression waves travel inside the wires, the energy is in the invisible fields surrounding the wires.The movement of charge injects energy into the whole circuit all at once.These analogies might help-
When we speak the air leaving our mouths travels very slowly whilst the sound waves generated travel at great speed.
If you spin a bicycle wheel every part of the wheel acquires kinetic energy at the same time. If you push at point A on the wheel you will instantly inject energy into the entire wheel. A brake applied at point B will take energy away from the wheel at the same instant that you injected energy at point A. The brake extracts energy from the entire wheel instantly and slows down the wheel in the process. The light bulb in a circuit does the same thing, the bulb slows down all of the electrons in the entire circuit and extracts energy from the entire circuit as it lights up.
In AC circuits the electrons don’t flow forward at all, instead they vibrate slightly. It is the movement of charge that generates the electrical energy.
Children will not understand electricity unless you help them to construct an accurate mental model.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbi7gJTPSXk
Chris.
Here are two more common misconceptions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jip3BbZBpsM
Getting the scale wrong is the most likely cause of the above misconception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz9D6xba9Og
Chris.
“You asked me if an ordinary person, by studying hard, would get to be able to imagine these things like I imagine them…” These eighteen videos are a joy to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj4y0EUlU-Y&list=PLBA204B419FD1BC66
Chris.