CTS Guide: Nuclear Processes, pp 160-161- Section IV Research Summaries
Radiation and Radioactivity
The National Science Foundation–funded Inquiry Into Radioactivity project studied students’ learning using instructional materials developed by the project to support conceptual change related to radiation and radioactivity. The radiation literacy study was conducted to see if non-science majors could distinguish between radiation and radioactivity. Results show that “nonscientists” tend to think of radiation as being matter-like “stuff” that is emitted from radioactive objects and causes other objects to become radioactive. The researchers found that student thinking about radioactive contamination as a result of ionizing radiation persisted long after experiments and simulations showed that ionizing radiation does not cause contamination. Thus, differentiating radiation from radioactivity is not an easy process for many students. Observations in the classroom suggest that understanding of ionizing radiation through experiencing conceptual change is difficult (Johnson and Maidl 2014).
Prather and Harrington (2001) asked college students if it was safe to eat irradiated strawberries. They found that prior to instruction, the majority of students surveyed had a weak understanding of the transport and absorption properties of radiation and radioactivity. Many students reasoned that the irradiated strawberry both became a source of radiation and was radioactive after being exposed to radiation. Some students described ionizing radiation as having the same properties as the radioactive source material. They used terms such as radioactive radiation, radioactive waves, or radioactive particles to describe the emitted radiation. Students had a strong belief that radiation is radioactive and that when the radiation is absorbed by the strawberry, the radiation can cause the strawberry to become radioactive. Even the students who answered correctly that the strawberry would not become a source of radiation (due to its being irradiated) gave reasons that revealed serious conceptual misunderstandings and difficulty differentiating between the terms radiation, radioactive, and radioactivity.
British researchers (Millar and Gill 1996) described students as having an undifferentiated concept of radiation and radioactive material. They tend to think that when objects come in contact with a radioactive source, material spreads out from the source contaminating the objects that are irradiated.