The understanding of the electrical conductivity of water and aqueous solutions was investigated for 179 students taking the general education subject “Chemistry” at a university. The distributions of student expectations for several experiments on electrical conduction with light bulbs were obtained. The samples tested were purified water, salt water, rock salt, sugar water, ethanol water, and acetic acid water. As a result, the correct answer rates were less than 70% except for salt water. The reasons written by students who chose incorrect answers revealed that some students held the following misconceptions: Pure water conducts electricity. Ionic crystals conduct electricity. Water conducts electricity if something is dissolved in it.
