This study examines misconceptions about static electricity among Greek junior high school students, as this topic is taught in the third grade of junior high school. A refined four-tier diagnostic test was administered to 92 students aged 13–14 in Athens during the 2024–25 school year prior to formal instruction. The instrument was developed on the basis of student interviews and relevant literature and was validated by four experts using Aiken's V index. Student responses were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and revealed several common misconceptions concerning fundamental concepts of static electricity. The findings underscore the importance of identifying students' conceptual difficulties before instruction and highlight the value of four-tier diagnostic assessment in providing detailed insight into patterns of misunderstanding. Based on these findings, the study offers a diagnostically informed foundation for instructional planning specifically targeted at the misconceptions identified, as well as for potential improvements to textbook content and curriculum design, in order to better align instruction with students' conceptual difficulties.
Bessas et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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