RESOURCES TO AVOID & WHY TO AVOID THEM
Primary Connections (PC 2017) 'Circuits & Switches'
On the plus side, the 'Teacher Background Information' in the 'newly revised' (2017) PC teaching sessions does give some focus to common student misconceptions and confusions of language about electricity.
More importantly, on the down side, the authors DO NOT highlight that these same misconceptions may be held and re-enforced both by the teacher and by the classroom activities and explanations included within the units themselves!
For example, read these quotes copied un-edited from the latest (revised an updated in 2017) version of Primary Connections 'Circuits and switches' for Year 6 primary students:
Primary Connections - Circuits & Switches Session 2 - Teacher Background Information - Batteries:
- 'When some of the electrons flow from the negative to the positive (through an external circuit) the chemical reactions continue and more electricity is produced.'
- 'In this unit we refer to electrical energy transferred by electrons moving around a circuit.'
So, what's wrong with that?
The above are just two examples of fundamental principles that PC presents in ways that are both confusing and scientifically incorrect.
Contrary to what PC says:
1. Batteries do not 'produce electricity'.
- View this table and description for a simple, scientifically correct explanation, or a more detailed (but still easily readable) explanation at University of Sydney.
- See the diagram below for a scientifically correct, detailed representation of electromagnetic fields in a simple circuit. See the comment at the bottom of the image, which explicitly states that:
2. Energy is not 'transferred by electrons moving around a circuit'.
- Read this article published by ABC Australia, which correctly explains that:
'a lot of our language around circuits … feeds into the idea that moving electrons themselves carry energy from one part of a circuit to another. It's a lie.'
'The truth is way more spectacular: the energy doesn't travel through the wires at all - it shoots through the space around them, at the speed of light. (Way to bury the lead, science!)' 1)
- Read the complete article by Bernie Hobbs at ABC Science Australia.
Diagram: Electromagnetic fields in a simple circuit
1)
ABC Science Australia - http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/02/05/3937083.htm