The Understanding of Light and Its Properties

The book decribes the findings of a study conducted on selected Malaysian secondary school student to find out their understanding of light and its properties. The Interview-About-Instances (IAI) method was used for data collection. The students in the study were given diagrams to represent instances related of light and its properties. Their verbatim responses were analyzed, transcribed and categorized. The findings of the study indicated that some students were able to use the 'light exists and propagates in space' model to explain light phenomenon. It also identified students' misconceptions of light when they were required to explain situations related to light propagation, vision, reflection and refraction. The misconceptions, categorised as the 'visual rays' idea, light going 'to and fro' between the object and the eyes, separating light behavior from vision process and giving 'concrete answers' were discussed in the book.