CHANGING STUDENTS' MISCONCEPTIONS OF FLOATING AND SINKING USING HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES

Unal S.

JOURNAL OF BALTIC SCIENCE EDUCATION, cilt.7, sa.3, ss.134-146, 2008 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 7 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2008
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF BALTIC SCIENCE EDUCATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.134-146
  • Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The aim of this study is to develop hands-on activities and to investigate their effects in changing students' misconceptions of floating and sinking. It was conducted with 28 eighth-grade students. To assess students' understanding and the effects of the instruction based on hands-on activities, a diagnostic test, Floating and Sinking Conceptual Test (FSCT), was employed in the study. It was found out that the instruction based on hands-on activities did hove a significant positive effect on students' understanding of flotation concepts and rules. Moreover, the hands-on activities designed for eight problematic areas where students commonly hod difficulties helped them to replace their misconceptions with the scientific ones. It is suggested that further studies should be undertaken to highlight the question 'Does the conceptual change strategy used in this study affect students' long-term memory?'