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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 8, Issue 1, Article
1 (June, 2007) Haluk ÖZMEN and Osman KENAN Determination of the Turkish primary students' views about the particulate nature of matter |
It is well-known that one of the most important factors affecting the classroom teaching-learning process is what ideas students hold about the key concepts because these ideas and beliefs influence how students learn new scientific knowledge, and may support or hinder successful acquisition of formal scientific concepts (BauJaoude, 1991). If students develop the basic concepts as early as possible, they could be more successful in learning advance topics in science at later stages because each new piece of information is added to what students already know about the topic at hand. Studies have shown that students do not come to classroom with blank slates; rather, they come to schools with well-established conceptions about science concepts gained from their interaction with the environment physically, socially, and emotionally (Posner et al., 1982); these conceptions may or may not match with the scientific concepts and some of these preexisting conceptions can interfere with students’ learning of correct scientific principals or concepts (Palmer, 1999; Posner et al., 1982). To name these various ideas constructed in learners’ minds, a number of terms such as misconception, alternative conception, alternative framework, naive conceptions, children’s science, and common sense understanding are used (Hewson and Hewson, 1984; Nakhleh, 1992; Özmen and Ayas, 2003; Palmer, 1999; Özmen, 2004).
Science, especially chemistry concepts has been regarded as difficult subjects for young students by the teachers, researchers and educators. In the literature, several studies have investigated students’ understanding and misconceptions about many of the basic science and chemistry concepts. One of the most investigated concepts is the particulate nature of matter (Ayas and Özmen, 2002; Boz, 2006; de Jong, van Driel and Verloop, 2005; Kokkotas, Koulaidis and Viachos, 1998; Liu and Lesniak, 2005; Nakhleh and Samarapungavan, 1999; Nakhleh, Samarapungavan and Sağlam, 2005; Özmen, Ayas and Coştu, 2002; Valanides, 2000; Yılmaz and Alp, 2006). Educators would agree that the particulate nature of matter is part of the heart of theoretical chemistry and a central subject in the middle and high school science curriculum and also appropriate understanding of it is essential to learning of several chemistry concepts (Tsai 1999; Snir, Smith and Raz, 2003).
