Misconceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes Towards the Phenomenon of Radioactivity

Abstract

The teaching of the phenomenon of radioactivity is considered a key ingredient in the path towards developing critical thinking skills in many secondary science education curricula. Despite being one of the basic concepts in general physics courses, the scientific teaching literature of the last 40 years reports a great deal of misconceptions and conceptual errors related to radioactivity that seemingly appear regardless of the educational level and context. This study reports the first cross-sectional diagnostic study in Spain to secondary education students and pre-service teachers. Data were collected in the year 2019 through a questionnaire adapted from a previously validated one to explore the main misconceptions, attitudes, and knowledge status on the topic on a sample of 191 secondary school students and 29 Physics-and-Chemistry trainee teachers in the Spanish region of Valencia. Open and closed questions were used to categorize the entity itself, its properties, and the main misconceptions related to radioactivity. The responses were analysed using conventional statistical methods. The results indicate an evolution from a widespread dissenting notion on the phenomenon, which is staunchly related to danger, hazard, and destruction in the lowest educational levels, towards a more rational, relative, and multidimensional perspective in the highest ones. On the other hand, the ideas, emotions, and attitudes of the inquired individuals are in good agreement with the main misconceptions reported in the literature.

Assessing elementary understanding of electromagnetic radiation and its implementation in wireless technologies among pre-service teachers

“…Several studies (Morales López & Tuzón Marco, 2022;Nakiboglu & Tekin, 2006;Wadana & Maison, 2019) indicate that electromagnetic radiation is a complex and challenging phenomenon for students to comprehend. Although educational programs cover topics related to electromagnetic radiation throughout all years of education, research has shown that teachers have limited knowledge in this area, as evidenced by their low scores on basic questions.…”

“…Even though these concepts are regarded as some of the most challenging and abstract ones to grasp (Siersma et al, 2021;Ye et al, 2010), the quantity of research devoted to them is noticeably lower compared to the aforementioned concepts in physics (Morales López & Tuzón Marco, 2022;Plotz, 2016).…”

Implementation of radioactivity in primary school physics lessons

“…Discussions arise during various events that could affect a nuclear power plant, e.g. accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, anniversaries of the Chernobyl accident in 1986, earthquake near the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia in 2020, discussions about the second unit of the Krško nuclear power plant in 2021 and 2022... Nuclear accidents and the effects of ionizing radiation on living beings and inanimate nature are topics of great interest for students [10].…”