Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts

Fikret Korur

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

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Fikret Korur ¹ ^*

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¹ Mehmet Akif Ersoy University^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
Pre-service science teachers’ conceptual understanding of astronomical concepts and their misconceptions in these concepts is crucial to study since they will teach these subjects in middle schools after becoming teachers. This study aimed to explore both 7th-grade students’ and the science teachers’ understanding of astronomical concepts and to diagnose the misconceptions of 7th-grade students and pre-service science teachers regarding some basic astronomy concepts derived from a three-tier test.

Materials and methods:
The test was administered to 105 pre-service science teachers and 91 seventh-grade students. The best conceptual understanding was related to the properties of the Sun.

Results:
The students and pre-service science teachers have some common misconceptions in astronomy. Pre-service teachers mostly have misconceptions not regarding complex concepts but instead in very basic knowledge of astronomy.

Conclusions:
There is a need to take serious measures to correct the misconceptions of the teachers, since under such circumstances it is optimistic to expect them to teach the subject correctly.

Keywords

astronomy misconceptions
understanding concepts in astronomy
pre-service science teachers
three-tier test
seventh-grade students

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 11, Issue 5, 2015, 1041-1060

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

Publication date: 25 Aug 2015

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Article Downloads: 1978

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How to cite this article

APA

Korur, F. (2015). Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(5), 1041-1060. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

Vancouver

Korur F. Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(5):1041-60. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

AMA

Korur F. Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(5), 1041-1060. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

Chicago

Korur, Fikret. "Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2015 11 no. 5 (2015): 1041-1060. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

Harvard

Korur, F. (2015). Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(5), pp. 1041-1060. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a

MLA

Korur, Fikret "Exploring Seventh-Grade Students’ and Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Misconceptions in Astronomical Concepts". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 11, no. 5, 2015, pp. 1041-1060. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1373a