Preservice Science Teachers' Beliefs about Astronomy Concepts

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice science teachers' conceptual understanding of astronomy concepts. Qualitative research methods were used. The sample consists of 118 preservice science teachers (40 freshmen, 31 sophomores, and 47 juniors). The data were collected with Astronomy Conceptual Questionnaire (ACQ)that includes 13 open-ended questionnaires, and measured various aspects of astronomy such as sun, planets, and moon. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were carried out in order to examine further thoughts of the participants. The results indicate that preservice science teachers have several misconceptions about astronomy concepts. Each misconception is generally based on a common incorrect astronomy knowledge. They have also difficulties with basic definitions and interpret visuals of astronomy concepts. Moreover, there is no difference among the levels of students concerning understanding of astronomy concepts.

Investigating In-service Science Teachers Conceptions of Astronomy, and Determine the Obstacles in Teaching Astronomy in Thailand

“…Most of them understood that the Sun appears overhead at noon every day, and the Sun rises and sets in exactly the same position every day. The results were similarly reported by Atwood and Atwood (1996), Kanli (2014), Küçüközer (2007), Ozkan and Akcay (2016), Starakis andHalkia (2014), andTrumper (2006).…”

“…Misconceptions may occur from instruction, interaction with environment, and daily life experiences (Vosniadou & Brewer, 1994). From the literature, pre-service and in-service teachers hold various science misconceptions (Kanli, 2014;Narjaikaew, 2013;Ozkan & Akcay, 2016;Trumper, 2006). Many research studies the astronomy misconceptions in elementary through high school students (Korur, 2015;Plummer et al, 2011;Vosniadou & Brewer, 1990) In comparison, several studies have focused on pre-service and in-service teachers (Atwood & Atwood, 1996;Brunsell & Marcks, 2005;Frede, 2008;Kikas, 2004;Plummer et al, 2010).…”

Development of Biological Macromolecules Three-Tier Test (BM-3T) to Identify Misconceptions of Prospective Science Teachers

“…Many pieces of research on the misconceptions of science teacher candidates have been carried out. The misconceptions of prospective science teachers in the field of physics include the topic of electricity (Zuhdi & Busyairi, 2021), force and motion (Al-Rsa'I, Khoshman, & Abu Tayeh, 2020), astronomy (Kanli, 2014;Ozkan & Ackay, 2016), and light (Wahyuni et al, 2019). The misconceptions of prospective science teachers in the field of chemistry include the topic of chemical bonds (Fatokun, 2016), chemical kinetics (Çam, Topçu, & Sülün, 2015), acids and bases (Safo-Adu, 2020), and intermolecular forces (Widiarti et al, 2019).…”