2.10 Comins
In determining how to construct the questions about the Moon and for common ideas about
the Moon, we looked at Neil Comins’ book, Heavenly Errors for concepts people have about
the Moon and its phases, and a related website where Comins has listed student misconceptions
about astronomical events. By looking at Moon phases misconceptions, we obtained ideas
about how to phrase questions used in our study. Comins also describes the true cause of the
phases of the Moon in an explicit, easy to understand manner. He spends approximately 2 ½
pages discussing and refuting the idea that the phases are caused by Earth’s shadow.