Students’ understanding of light concepts in primary school: A cross-age study

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 9, Issue 1, Article 7 (Jun., 2008)
Çiğdem ŞAHİN, Hava İPEK and Alipaşa AYAS
Students’ understanding of light concepts in primary school: A cross-age study

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Conclusions And Discussion

According to the data obtained, students’ concepts showed consecutiveness. The 4^th grade students didn’t define light as energy. 51% of the 6^th grade students and 8% of the 8^th grade students defined light as energy. In addition, the 6^th grade students defined light as reflection. The 4^th and the 6^th grade students didn’t mention anything about the speed of the light or the wavelength of the light, whereas the 8^th grade students mentioned the speed of the light and the wavelength in their definitions. Light concept and light source concept definitions change among the students. Learning circumstances change according to age groups (Şen, 2003). Knowledge is constructed hierarchically in students’ mind and it relates to their age as they grow (Novak, 1988). The development of the concept of light in our research showed similarities with literature (Dedes, 2005). 4^th, 6^th and 8^th grade students defined the effects of light as, “Light occurs from lamp.”, “Light comes as electric to us”, “Light enlightens dark places” (See Table I), “Sun is the light”, “There is light in luminousness”, “There isn’t light at dark” (See Table II) and “Light illuminates darkness” (See Table III). This data can be explained by the impact of student’s ideas from their daily life (Cansüngü, 2000; Pine, Messer & John, 2001). Eshach (2003), also have similar findings such as: “We throw a glance”, “Give a look” and “If you get closer, you will see well”. 4^th, 6^th and 8^th grade students defined light relating to working with an electric tool. For example: “Light occurs from lamp”, “Our houses illuminated with light to run to work with electricity” and “We can use light as a tool to see”. Similar findings have been found in another study (Cansüngü Koray & Bal, 2002). Moreover, 4^th, 6^th and 8^th grade students’ definitions include concepts of matter and existence. The same concepts are used in other studies for the definition of light (Yıldız, 2000; Cansüngü, 2000; Akdeniz, Yıldız & Yiğit, 2001; Cansüngü Koray & Bal, 2002).

85% of the 4^th grade students didn’t agree that a firefly is a light source and 3% of them didn’t agree that the Moon is a light source. 58% of the 6^th grade students didn’t agree that a firefly is a light source and 31% of them didn’t agree that Moon is a light source. 56% of the 8^th grade students didn’t agree that firefly is a light source and 36% of them didn’t agree that Moon is a light source.

“The Moon is a light source” misconceptions persist from 4^th grade to 8^th grade. The similar finding was determined in another study (Pine, Messer & John, 2001). Büyükkasap, Düzgün & Ertuğrul, (2001) found that student did not understand? Light sources.

To change children’s conceptions seems to be quite difficult, as they understand events which happen around them intuitively. Furthermore, this consequence can be explained according to the interviews carried out with the sample. Students’ defined light sources according to their understanding during their interviews. (“Firefly isn’t a light source. Because, we can’t use it as a tool. It doesn’t illuminate”).

Students were asked if the Moon, firefly, flashlight and star were light sources, and the results indicated that students’ similarly. Students stated their explanations by comparing choices with the Sun’s energy.

According to the students, everything that reflects light is a light source. In their light source definitions, “to reflect” is seen as a concept. Students considered that a “light source spreads light” and that a “light source reflects light” and gave these ideas the same meaning. Similar results are found in a previous study (Akdeniz, Yıldız & Yiğit, 2001).

Students could not distinguish between concepts like light source and light reflection. In the interviews that carried out with the 6^th grade students, one of them stated that, a “Spoon reflects light; we can see it in dark kitchen.” This finding demonstrates that students think that everything they see with light is a light source. This finding can also be seen in students’ drawings (see Figure 3). This case showed similarities to the development of light history. Leucippus of Milletus proclaimed that every visible object is a light source (Guesne, Driver, & Tiberghien, 1985).

Students defined concepts according to their daily life experiences (Cansüngü Koray & Bal, 2002). However, students didn’t agree that firefly is a light source, and they explained their reasoning by saying that a “Firefly can only show itself.” This rationale shows that those concepts can’t always be clearly understood by the students.

50% of the 4^th grade, 69% of the 6^th grade and 60% of the 8^th grade students stated that they could see white papers in a dark room. Similarly, Şen (2003) found that in order to see matters, matters should be bright.

In the third question the 4th and the 6th grade students marked choices A and B, whereas the 8th grade students didn’t mark any of these choices. This shows that the 4th and the 6th grade students felt sight and looking was the same thing (see Figure I). Again, similar findings were found in other studies (Cansüngü, 2000; Yıldız, 2000; Pine, Messer & John, 2001). This case showed similarity with the belief that Pythhagorean had - the eye should be active for sight. Archytos of Toroanto agreed with Pythhagorean’s convictions. Also, in the 5th Century, Alcmaeon of Croton proclaimed the eye to be a light source (Guesne, Driver, & Tiberghien, 1985). To see and to look are found to be the same concept in some other studies, too (Galili & Hazzan, 2000; Şen, 2003; Heywood, 2005; Eshach, 2003). The first time in the history of development of light concept, Ibn-ul Heysem revealed the function of eye and light. Ibn-ul Heysem rejected the idea that the eye diffuses light. He also asserted that light beams come from the object and then to the eye (URL-1).

Choice E is correct, and was marked by the 4^th(12%), 6^th (14%) and 8^th (13%) grade students at approximately the same rate. According to students’ grade levels, concepts are developed hierarchically.

With the data obtained from the interviews and drawings, it is understood that students can relate sight and light (see Figure III and IV). But, they didn’t draw or say anything about how sight comes into existence. These findings can be explained because students aren’t aware of that when light falls on a matter the light should reflect on the eye so that sight occurs. 6^th and 8^th grade students have lower levels of understanding than 4^th graders regarding the question about “Six pictures about sight are below. In which picture can you see the tree?” as seen in Figure V. Also, 6^th grade students have a lower level of understanding than 4^th graders have in question F. These findings show that misconceptions are resistant to change with scientific knowledge (Boo, 2007; Ekici, Ekici & Aydın, 2007).

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