Private tutor teaching science is wrong about how ice-cream mist is formed, says ex-teacher

Who is right?

A private tutor made an error in a Facebook post showing how to answer a science question, according to a former teacher.

Stomper Amos, who is the ex-teacher, had chanced upon the tutor known as Lightbulb Classroom, who conducts classes in upper primary school science as well as primary and secondary school mathematics.

"Upon scrutinising the Lightbulb Classroom Facebook page, I found errors in the concepts being taught," said the Stomper.

"In one particular post on June 6 with the title 'Common errors for water cycle questions', the irony is that the tutor is the one who made the common error."

The post shows a drawing of an ice-cream man with the question: "An ice-cream cart has a freezer that stores ice cream for sale. Mist was seen when the ice cream man opened the freezer lid as shown below. Explain how the mist was formed."

The answer given was: "(Warm) water vapour from the surrounding air touches the cooler outer surface the ice cream (lost heat) and condenses into tiny water droplets forming mist."

The answer was marked correct with a couple of minor edits.

But the Stomper said the answer was wrong and explained why.

"Mist is formed when warmer air meets cooler air surrounding the ice cream, and water vapour in the warmer air loses heat and condenses into tiny water droplets called mist," he said.

"Mist is not due to water vapour from the surrounding air touching the cooler surface of the ice cream."

Stomp has contacted Lightbulb Classroom for more info.

Update:

After the article was published, Lightbulb Classroom updated its Facebook post: "The screenshot in question was taken during a lesson and serves as a learning tool to correct and enhance the student's existing answer.

"The keywords to describe the process of condensation are as follows:

"Warm water vapour from (_warm air/hot soup/surroundings__) came into contact with a cooler (_surface/surroundings__) , lost heat, and condensed into water droplets forming mist/fog/white smoke. [Students have to tweak this depending on the question].

"My objective at the time was not to provide a pre-fabricated paragraph or model answer for memorisation."