ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s, a video was released which took on something of a cult status in the science education community. This video, A Private Universe (Sadler, Schneps, & Woll, 1989), began by showing interviews of Harvard University students at graduation dressed in their graduation robes. They were asked two questions, “what causes the seasons?” and “what causes the phases of the moon?” Of the 25 or so who were interviewed, over 20 had substantial problems answering the questions. Many confi dently and eloquently expounded ideas at odds with the most elementary treatments of these questions.
