Examining fifth-grade students’ level of associating some daily-life events with “changes of state”

Qualitative research methods allow the production of a wealth of detailed information about a relatively small number of people and cases, thus facilitating in-depth understanding of the cases or situations studied (Patton, 2002). The case study method is adopted for this descriptive research. This method is suitable for individually-conducted studies as it allows for an in-depth study of an aspect of a problem within a short period of time (Çepni, 2009). The case study method is defined by Yin (2003) as an empirical inquiry which investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. In this study, we chose to use a descriptive model as it aims to define the person, event or phenomenon studied as it is, without any intervention (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The study’s sample consisted of 107 fifth-grade students studying at a secondary school in Erzurum city centre in the 2014-2015 academic year. The students were chosen using convenience sampling.

Data Collection Tool

In this study, which examined the fifth-grade students’ level of associating some daily-life events with changes of state, seven open-ended questions based on the curriculum were used. Data collection tools consisting of open-ended questions are commonly used, especially to determine levels of understanding of concepts and prevailing misconceptions (Ayas & Özmen, 2002). The questions were submitted for comments to two science experts and two science teachers who were all specialists in their fields. After examining the questions, they expressed the opinion that the questions were sufficient to measure the intended outcomes. In this type of study, one of the measures often taken to increase research quality is an expert review, i.e., peer debriefing (Yıldırım, 2010). Five of the questions were taken from the science coursebook prepared by the MoNE for fifth graders, while the other two were prepared by the researcher. (The Ministry of National Education foresees the use of different coursebooks in different regions. The questions were taken from the coursebook used in the school in which this study was conducted.) The first question requires the students to choose situations related to evaporation and write down their reasons. The second question investigates whether they understand heat exchange during the process of evaporation. The third question is about the melting phenomenon, while the fourth question is about dew formation and evaporation and asks about the relationship of given situations to these events. The fifth question is about sublimation and asks the students to explain this event. (Solid naphthalene is placed inside unused beds and quilts when the seasons change in the city where the study has been carried out. This question has been used so that the pupils are familiar with the situation from their parents’ actions.) The sixth question is about deposition and asks the students to give examples from daily life and explain this event. Finally, the seventh question is about the relationship between freezing and heat exchange. The questions in the data collection tool are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. The questions in the data collection tool

Question number	Change of state to which the question is related
1	Evaporation
2	Evaporation
3	Melting
4	Evaporation- Condensation
5	Sublimation
6	Deposition
7	Freezing

Data Analysis

The responses of students to the open-ended questions were carefully analysed. Descriptive analysis was used. In descriptive analysis, the data are summarized and interpreted based on pre-determined themes (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2006). In the analysis of the responses to the open-ended questions used in this study, existing categories from the literature were used. In this sense, the student’s responses were analysed based on four categories, i.e., Full Understanding, Partial Understanding, Misunderstanding and Unanswered, as employed by Özmen, Ayas and Coştu (2002) and Özmen (2003). These four categories are explained by Özmen (2003) as follows:

Full Understanding: Responses that include some or all of the scientific ideas regarding the question are placed into this category.

Partial Understanding: Responses that are acceptable, but not totally valid, are placed into this category.

Misunderstanding: Responses that include irrelevant, irrational or wrong information are placed into this category.

Unanswered: Responses that are left blank or have little relevance to the question and lack scientific value, are placed into this category.

A total of 15 sheets including the students’ responses were analysed by the researcher and two different science instructors (10 sheets for each) based on these categories. The findings of the analyses were compared with each other and a significant correlation was found between the findings from each of the assessors. In nine of the 10 answer sheets evaluated by the assessors, student answers were placed into the same categories. Accordingly, it can be said that there is very good correlation between the assessors’ findings. The remaining answer sheets were analysed by the researcher.