Clinical Interview

Why I chose this Misconception

 

            I think that children do not understand that white light contains waves of different colors.  I am interested in finding out what a child’s explanation is for why bubbles are multicolored, why the colors shift, and where the colors come from that they see on the bubbles.  

 

How I did the Interview

 

            My goal during the interview was to find out what the child thought the reasons were to my questions.  I initially, allowed the child to share with me her experiences with bubbles.  Once I was able to get her talking, I started to blow bubbles and began to ask her questions.  I noticed that she hesitated at first as if to look for the right answer.  I let her know that I was listening and allowed her to take her time to explain her reasoning.

 

Interview Questions and Child’s Responses

 

1. Why are the bubbles multicolored?

 

Her answers changed every time she thought more about it.

 

Answer 1:  Because everything you see when it slides.

Answer 2:  Because the light reflects the bubbles.

Answer 3:  Because the bubble reflects the light.

Answer 4:  Because the light hits the bubbles and the colors shine. If there is no 

                   light, the bubble is plain old white.  When the light turns off the colors  

                   don’t reflect.

 

2. Why do the colors shift?

 

Answer: Because the wind blows the bubbles.  The colors won’t change if we are

               somewhere there is no wind.

 

3. Where do all the colors come from that you see in the bubble?

 

Answer: Light is bright yellow. The light points at the bubble and it reflects all the bubbles colors from the light.

 

Analysis of Child’s Comments and Drawings

 

            The child I interviewed told me that she learned in school why bubbles are multicolored, but that she could not remember. From the child’s drawing and response to the interview questions, the child did not know what happens between the light shining on a bubble to result in the colors seen in the bubbles.  However, she did know that the bubbles themselves did not have color, because she said if the light was turned off (removed) the bubbles would be “plain old white.” The information she was missing or failed to understand from her teacher’s instruction earlier in the year was that white light contains waves of different colors. She also could not explain why the colors seen in bubbles change.  This interview made me realize how important it is to address student’s misconceptions. 

Stephanie Davis

CI5329-Dickinson

June 17, 2008

 

Clinical Interview-Bubbles

 

Background info for the misconception:

• My lesson plan is directed toward the third grade age group, and I chose to interview a child above the third grade, (a fourth grade graduate) to see what misconceptions about bubbles the child is carrying with him past the school year that my lesson targets.
• I chose to concentrate on the properties of bubbles as my focus questions for misconceptions, since my lesson plan targets introducing the Bubble Festival and the first lesson plan of Body Bubbles.
• I think it will be interesting to see what Tyler has to say about bubbles as well, because Science is his favorite subject in school.  He gets his highest grades and citizenship scores from his Science course.  He is fascinated with all things regarding Science and loves the museums and conducting experiments at home.

 

How the interview was conducted:

• Interview took place on June 16, 2008 at about 8:00 pm in the kitchen of my house in Round Rock, TX.
• I interviewed my son, Tyler, who is 10-years-old and a fourth grader at Brushy Creek Elementary.
• I conducted the interview at the kitchen table to allow for a large work surface, so he could better explain his understandings of bubbles and answer my questions with a hands-on approach.
• I video taped the interview as well
• I entered the interview process introducing myself as a graduate student and allowing my son to introduce himself as well, and what my objective for the interview was: “We are going to talk about bubbles today”.  I did not prep Tyler at all before starting the video tape or the interview.
• I laid out construction paper, 3 colored markers, 2 straws, a bowl of bubble solution and a bubble wand on the table.  I only advised him that these were tools that he could use to help explain an answer or demonstrate his thoughts if he needed to.  He had no other instructions explaining how to use the tools.  I wanted to see if he would use the tools on his own, or if I would have to ask him to “show me” his ideas.
• Here are the planned questions that I asked during the interview:
1. I began blowing bubbles using the bubble wand and solution into the air and asked him, “What am I doing?”
2. “Have you played a lot with bubbles before?”
3. “Have you done anything at school, like bubble experiments, or anything like that?”
4. “What do you know about bubbles?”
5.  “You said you need air {for the bubbles}, does it matter what kind of air? (This one was unscripted)
6. “What do you think makes a bubble work?”
7. “Why do you think a bubble sticks to things? Like when you see it.{he had a very long pause and seemed puzzled by his thoughts.  He wasn’t using any of the tools that I had laid out for him yet, so I prompted him.} You can use any of things that I have laid out for you here to help you think about it.”
8. “Do you think you can make bubbles with parts of your body?”
9. “If you blow a bubble in your hand and squeeze it, what happens?”
10. “Do you think you can move a bubble?”
11. “After you blow a bubble in the air, what happens to it?”
12. “Do you think bubbles can be different shapes?”
13. “Do you think you can measure a bubble?”

• I tried to pause long enough after he answered the questions to see if he had some additional information to add.  I let him fully explain as much in detail about bubbles during his answers, even if he was off track, looking to see if he explained it out loud to himself he may catch his misconceptions himself on ideas.  Overall though, the long pauses just made him second guess his answer, and he continued to throw out additional details in a questioning fashioning trying to seek approval, until I moved on to next question.  I never told him if he was right or wrong, but I did ask for further explanations or demonstrations.

• After all questions were answered I gave him a high-five and thanked him for helping me and for his time.

 

What the Child’s responses to my questions were:

• Here are the responses from my child to the scripted questions that I asked (see above), as well as some other non-scripted questions that arose during our bubble conversation included below:

1.      “You’re blowing bubbles.”  {I paused. I repeated what he said, blowing bubbles, and continued blowing bubbles to see if he would add any other observations or information to his statement.  He did not.}

2.      “No, I have not.”

3.      “No, ma’am.”

4.      “They float. They have a liquid inside. [Do you know what the liquid is or what it’s made up of?] Like Chlorophyll or something. Chloride or something. I know it’s a type of chemical and it makes it float. And air is a thing that also helps it float. [What chemicals help it float?] I’m not sure, I just know there’s a chemical in it.[Can you makes this at home?{I was stirring the bubble mixture on the table.}] I’m not sure.”

5.      “I don’t think so.  I think it’s just any type, of like, wind, air.”

6.      “Air, I think either the air or the chemical makes it work. [So this is the chemical {I raise the bowl holding the bubble solution.} and this is the air {I waved my hands above the bowl demonstrating the air surrounding the bowl} then it will work ok?] No. you have to blow the bubble. Also, there has to be other ingredients like water to make the syrupy stuff. [So the bubble itself is some kind of chemical plus water?]  Yea, it has water in it, and I don’t know the exact other ingredient. [Why do you think water was put into it?] Cause’ it’s the liquid and you can’t use a solid or a gas to make the bubble. I don’t know. I guess. [Okay, so when you take this liquid and you blow into it, what does it turn into? {I blew a bubble in the air using the wand and bubble solution}] It turns into a gas. No, wait. You can’t see a gas. Um. It’s either a gas or a liquid still. It floats, so I think it’s a gas.”

7.      He began to draw a picture, (see attachments) of the ingredients he thinks make up a bubble.  He listed on the picture: cm=chemical, water, air, and acid. “Ii think the chemical helps it stick because, or either the acid, or something like that. Either acid or chemical will help it stick, because, for example vegetable oil has chemicals in it right? And it ends up getting sticky after a long time.  [Is that because it’s a liquid or just because it has chemicals?] I think it’s because….well, water can’t get sticky, so I think it’s a chemical, or acid gets sticky right away. [Let me be more specific on my question. If I blow a bubble {I blew a bubble that stuck to the wand} and it sticks to the wand, why do you think it sticks to the wand,  {then I blow a bubble into my dry hand.] but it won’t stick to my hand? It just pops.  What do you think the difference is?] “I think it’s because of these designs or something {he is holding wand and touching/pointing to the rippled edge around the hole of the wand} or maybe because it’s round. Maybe you have to have a round surface{I think he meant opening, b/c he was touching the hole in the wand} to make a bubble. Or maybe completely….[So it only sticks to round things?] No. like open area. [ok, let’s say, I do this {I blow a bubble with a straw that sticks to the top of the table after I wet the table in front of him.} and it sticks to something that is not a round area. Why?] This is {he points to the straw} [He straw opening that I blow through?] yes. It has a round area on it.[But what makes it stick to the table? That’s my question. I’m just trying to help illustrate it for you.] Umm…I’m not sure at all.”  

8.      “Yes. I’ll demonstrate? {He makes the okay sign with his forefinger and thumb, dips it into the solution, and proceeds to blow through it. He is frustrated at first because a bubble isn’t forming (I should have used the Bubble Festival bubble solution recipe instead of store bought bubble solution for my experiment, because the store bought didn’t work as well.)  I always do it with soap.  {then a small bubble does appear.} You see how it’s forming? [Do you think you can blow bubbles and they will stick on parts of your body?]  That depends on if it’s a flat surface or not. If it’s like this {as he points to the inside of his hand cupped} it will probably pop because of the jagged area. [Do you want to try it?] {He blows a bubble in the air and tries to catch it in his dry hand. It pops.} See. [So you think the bubble didn’t stick to your hand because of the jagged surface?] I guess.”

 

 

9.      It pops. [ok do you want to show me that?] {he tries to blow one through his forefinger and thumb to hold in his hand and cannot get a bubble to stay. I try to blow one into his open palm and the solution doesn’t work that well and a bubble still won’t stay even with his hand wet.  Therefore he concludes that a bubble will always pop if you try it in your hand.} Yea. It will definitely pop.”

10.  “How? Like?  I think you can. [Can you draw me a picture or show me how a bubble can be moved?] {He begins to draw a second picture (see attachments) A picture of a ½ bubble on top of a flat surface with a wand inside of it} A bubble. The wand, if I stuck it inside, which it wouldn’t pop, because I’ve tried this before, and I gently moved it this way.  The wand would catch onto this {pointing to the bubble on the picture} and pull it [You could drag it along?] Yeap. [Is there any other way you could move a bubble?] Not that I know of. That’s the only way that I know.”

11.  “It either floats away or it pops immediately. [DO you know why it floats away?] Chemicals? [Because of chemical?] I think it’s because of chemicals, or either, air.[Or air? Can you explain it or draw a picture why it’s one of those things.] {He drew his third picture (see attachments) of a bubble filled with air and the air pushes on the outer layer of the bubble pushing it up} If the air… fills up in the bubble, Um. When the air builds up in the bubble, it inflates, well, because the air floats around. The air is going to start going up and hitting against this and it starts going up. [The air is beating up against what?] The air is beating up against the {he points to outer layer of bubble drawn} outer layer. [So there is air inside the bubble and the bubble around is holding the air inside?] yes. [ and then it’s pushing on it? Is that what you are showing with the arrow?] yes. And if one little piece breaks, then all the air comes out and pops.

12.  No. {giggles} no, not at all. I don’t think they can be like cubes or anything. [What if you use a wand like this with a square hole, do you think it will make a square bubble?] It will go out into collaboration, it will change into a circular,… it’s like meant to be a sphere.”

13.  “No, because you couldn’t get it to stop moving. I bet you could,… somehow get it to stop moving,  you could use a tape measure to go over. But I don’t think you could. [what if, like I showed you earlier how I blew the bubble on the table, do you think you could measure it that way?] Probably.[Or think of other ways you could do that?] Uh-huh. [How would you measure it on the table?] Like above, or like….take the tape measure out and bend it upwards. Or something likes that. [Do you think that if I blew a bubble on the table that I could stick stuff inside of the bubble to measure it, or would it always have to be on the outside?] I don’t think metal could, but I think like a straw could, want me to show? [You could if you want to.] {He began to blow a bubble onto the table using the wand, (got a bit in his eye, but was ok,) He was unsuccessful until I wiped the table with soapy suds (he noticed I did that, but made no comments about it) he got a bubble to stay and poked it with a dry straw, which cause it to pop.[DO you know why it might have popped if that straw touched it?] Maybe it didn’t go in fast enough and the air rushed out immediately.”

 

Drawings that illustrate misconceptions or the child’s thinking:

• There were a total of three, please see attachments, and descriptions given above as well during his answers

 

An analysis of the child’s comments and drawings

• I thought it was interesting that when I asked Tyler what he knew about bubbles he thought a bubble consisted of air and a chemical was inside of it and tried to fill in terms he had learned in past science lessons like Chlorophyll or Chloride.  He later mentioned in answer #8 “I always do it with soap” when talking about blowing bubbles, but he didn’t put the two together that bubbles are water and soap, and he didn’t think he could make the bubble solution at home
• On question #6 I asked him what makes a bubble work and ended up talking about matter.  He concluded that when one blows a bubble, “it turns into a gas. No, wait. You can’t see a gas. Um. It’s either a gas or a liquid still. It floats, so I think it’s a gas.”  I found it interesting how he came about this conclusion, because he remembered from a previous lesson that you can’t see a gas, what he failed to realize is that gas is inside the stretched liquid bubble, even after his drawing from question # 11 when he realized that air was trapped inside of it.
• When we discussed why bubbles stick to things he began to think of sticky substances and incorporated his ideas on vegetable oil, which was just fascinating, yet completely wrong.  He has no clue why bubbles stick to objects or each other, and got stumped at every further question I asked trying to get a clearer explanation from him.
• I feel bad that question #8 and #9 didn’t go too well because I should have used the Bubble Festival bubble solution recipe instead of store bought bubble solution for my interview, because the store bought didn’t work as well.  He wasn’t able to conduct his experiment correctly and I feel that it’s my fault and the bubble solution that he came to the wrong conclusion.  He couldn’t see that bubbles hate dry areas because the bubbles didn’t form on wet or dry areas. 
•  He did very well regarding question #10 and moving bubbles.  I think that is because he tried that technique before.  However, he couldn’t think of any other ways to move a bubble.  I did want to mention that after the interview was complete and he was just sitting at the table playing in the bubble solution and tools, he commented to me, “hey, I can also move the bubbles by blowing them in the air and then using my air to blow on them and change their direction.  I can pilot them.”
• He was right on with #11, bubbles can only be spheres, and that surprised me.  He had no doubt and acted like that question was a joke.
• I found this interview to be highly useful with results that even surprised me.  The misconceptions I thought he would have like bubble shapes and moving bubbles, he aced. While what I thought to be simpler questions, like what a bubble was made up of or why it stuck to objects, he had such bizarre answers.