Intro.

            Everyone in the world has a natural wonder of what things are made of. However due to lack of knowledge some people do not have a true understanding of what things are made of. The group of people that was focused on varied in ages. There was one high school student interviewed, one college student was interviewed, and one adult was interviewed. The group was asked what they thought made up an atom and to describe what they thought about the atoms that made up a penny. These questions have correct answers that almost all of the group members knew, however how far in-depth the group was able to describe what atoms are made of varied.

Results

              The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the properties of atoms. The probe is designed to determine whether students can distinguish between the microscopic properties of an atom and the macroscopic properties of a substance or object made up of atoms. (NSTA 2008)

            The way that I decided to conduct the interviews was through a worksheet. I asked my younger brother who is a junior in high school, my roommate who is a sophomore in college, and my father who works with sheet metal and did not go to college to fill out the worksheet. The worksheet consisted of two activities to that were used to evaluate their knowledge of atoms. The first activity states: a shiny new penny is made up of atoms. Put an X next to all the things on the list that describes the atoms that make up the shiny new penny. The options were hard, solid, very small, always moving, warm, made of smaller particles, contains mostly empty space, soft, copper-colored, has mass, do not move, shiny, cold, and dull. The next states: Describe your thinking about the atoms that make up the penny. Explain why you selected the things on the list as ways to describe atoms. The results for these activities varied due to age and amount of education.

Results for activity #1

1-Hard                                        0-Soft

3-Solid                                        2-Copper Colored

2-Very Small                                3-Has Mass

2-Always Moving                           0-Do Not Move

0-Warm                                       0-Shiny

2-Made of Smaller Particles             0-Cold

0-Contains Mostly Empty Space       0-Dull

            The answers for the first activity were very similar. I feel that this was because there were many options that sounded correct and were able to remind the group of what they have learned prior. The results from activity #2 were much different.

Results for activity #2

Subject #1 (High School Junior)

            “Atoms are small protons and neutrons that move around very rapidly. Electrons surround theses atoms. Everything that exists has mass.”

Subject #2 (College Sophomore)

            “Atoms are small particles made up of protons and neutrons. Atoms make up everything and are always moving. They are also small and not visible to the human eye.”

Subject #3 (High School Graduate, no College Education)

            “I know that there are atoms in everything and make up the structure of things. I would also assume that because atoms make up everything it would determine the color of things as well.

            When it came to explaining their ideas as to what atoms were the results were much different. This is due to different levels of education; however, each person who participated in the interview has been educated about atoms at some point in their years of education.

            In conclusion the general consensus for the survey was that the phrases: Solid, Very Small, Always moving, Made of Smaller Particles, Copper Colored, and Has Mass were the best answers in the opinion of the subjects. Also when asked to write a response about their thinking of the atom the subjects were all able to determine that atoms are small particles that make up the structure of everything in the world. Through these results I was able to conclude that people do have a general idea of what atoms are they are just not able to explain in very much detail as to what atoms are made of. 

My Reaction

            I was shocked to see how similar the answers were in the first activity. I predicted that the answers would all be different because there were several answers that would make sense when describing an atom. I was more shocked to how the answers were completely different to the article. The article states, “five items on the list make up the best response: very small, has mass, always moving, made of smaller particles, and contains mostly empty space.” (NSTA 2008) I was surprised that there was only one describing phrase that all the subjects were able to identify that was described in the article as one of the best answers. I was also surprised that there was none of the subjects were able to identify “contains mostly empty space” as one of the best phrases that describes atoms. I had expected the answers to be mostly similar but I was also expecting all of the “best” phrases to be identified at least once. I was not surprised by the amount of detail that the subjects were able to provide when asked to write about what they know about atoms. I expected a general idea as to what an atom was and more detail based on how much education the subject has received in their life time.

What can be done to better improve societal understanding of this subject?

            I feel that there are several things that can be done to better improve societal understanding of this subject. First I feel that it is important to teach this at an earlier age such as in elementary school. If we teach just the basic concepts of this at an earlier age we will be able to get and more in depth on the topic as the student advances over the years during their school and will be able to recall more about atoms and their structures later on in life.

            I also feel that society could make education about atoms more important. I think that educational programs that are more interesting and easier to understand should be on television and the programs should explain the importance of atoms in the world and why people need to know about them.

Sources

Physcial Science and Nature of Science Assement Probes, NSTA 2008