THE NATURE OF 4TH GRADERS UNDERSTANDINGS OF ELECTRIC-CIRCUITS

The purpose of this study was to interpret the nature of fourth grader s' understandings of electric circuits. The qualitative study was guid ed by constructivist theory and utilized two small groups of four chil dren each. Each child was interviewed prior to and after, as well as o bserved throughout, the instructional unit on simple electric circuits . The interviews centered around three different electric circuit task s: predictions and explanations of eight electric circuit problems; th e completion and explanation of three electric circuit drawings, and t he identification of an electric current diagram, which was based on O sborne's (1983) work. The findings for these children suggested that: (1) the nature of children's understandings of electric circuits is de pendent upon the interplay between their understandings of circuit con nections and understandings of electric current; (2) prior to instruct ion children's understandings of electric circuits were scientifically inaccurate and tended to emphasize understandings of circuit connecti ons; (3) children held multiple understandings of electric current pri or to instruction, whereas following instruction most children held a single understanding of electric current, albeit scientifically inaccu rate; and (4) after instruction children demonstrated a more accurate technical understanding of electric circuits, but only one child demon strated a scientific understanding of electric current. Based on these findings, conclusions about knowledge restructuring are presented, as well as implications for teaching, assessment, and research. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.