0000000000585722
AUTHOR
Jorma Ojala
The third planet
This paper examines the conceptions of planetary phenomena related to temperature change as held by primary school teacher trainees at the Department of Teacher Education of Jyvaskyla University. The data were collected by means of an essay test, supplemented by interviews. The results show that very few students have internalized these phenomena in accordance with present‐day scientific concepts. The significance of the Earth's sphericity seems particularly obscure. The influence of the angle of inclination of the Earth's axis is misunderstood. Similarly, temperature differences are erroneously attributed to the distance from the sun of the Earth or of a particular place. The students do n…
Lost in space? The concepts of planetary phenomena held by trainee primary school teachers
The teaching of science in primary education has, at least according to the behaviourist tradition, sought to eliminate pupils’ faulty conceptualisations of scientific phenomena. This paper suggests that such conceptualisations are an integral part of learning and should be encouraged. The paper begins by reporting on an experiment originally developed to elicit information on the various concepts of planetary phenomena held by prospective primary school teachers in Finland. Through examining their conceptions, however, students became aware of their own cognitive processes and the underlying logic and consistency of their thinking. The paper suggests that this awareness and the methodology…