The Rock Cycle Composition Elements and Process of the Pre-service Earth Science Teachers' Understanding

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the composition elements and processes of the rock cycle that pre-service teachers in earth science field understand. Second-year students majoring in earth science were selected as research objects, all of whom attended teacher's university located in the southern region. The methods of arranging the composition elements of the rock cycle in a structured way and displaying the cycle direction through the arrow and describing the cycle processes in detail were applied. Pre-service teachers recognized 5 composition elements: magma, igneous rocks, sediments, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks of the rock cycle and cycle processes was represented into 20 branches. The cycle type was analyzed by four criteria: linear, triangular, circular, complex, some pre-teachers did not complete the loop of the cycle or some showed incomplete understanding of the cycle structure simply displayed in one direction. The rock cycle is an important theme of the earth system education characterized by dynamism and complexity.