From Alasdair Macdonald, Glasgow, UK
I broadly agree with Matt Strassler that the language we use to describe the basic stuff of the universe can obscure our understanding of reality, insofar as we truly can understand reality! I encountered this as a secondary school physics teacher. If not addressed early, conceptual misunderstandings can endure (21 September, p 32).
Some of my colleagues did research into this. They had access to archives of examination scripts from the Scottish Examination Board and department of chemistry at the University of Glasgow. One key finding was that conceptual misunderstandings persisted through to PhD theses. If a concept had been incompletely understood when the student first internalised it, such a misconception was hard to correct, even in people whose ability in a field of study was very high.
