Abstract
The authors have studied on the formation of the concepts on science. One of the most basic concepts on the electric current is its direction concept in a direct current circuit. In the present paper, we aimed at making clear the process of children's concept formation of its direction. The research was made by using the following three problems: (1) which asked the direction of electric current in words, (2) which asked it by illustrations, and (3) which asked the difference of the intensity of electric current at the three points in the circuit. The subjects were mainly the third to the ninth grade pupils. The result revealed that the degree of children's understanding had a close relation-ship to that of their study. Children's answers to Problem 1 fairly corresponded to those to Problem 2 and the rate of the correspondence increased with their study. By comparing their answers to Problem 3 with those to Problems 1 & 2, however, quite a number of the pupils, except the ninth grade, were found to have a subconscious idea that the electricity flowed from both poles of the cell.
