Investigation of Preservice Science Teachers’ Comprehension of the Star, Sun, Comet and Constellation Concepts

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to reveal preservice science teachers’ perceptions related to the sun, star, comet and constellation concepts. The research was carried out by 56 preservice science teachers (4 th grade) at Kastamonu University taking astronomy course in 2014-2015 academic year. For data collection open-ended questions that required defining, drawing and association of concepts was used. Data was collected in two stages before and after relevant concepts were taught. The collected data were analyzed using different rubrics. It is seen that preservice teachers’ insufficient knowledge, alternative ideas and figures away from scientific knowledge about star, sun, constellation and comet concepts that determined in pre-test showed a showed a decrease in post-test. Besides, even though there is an increase in star concept-sun, constellation and comet concept associations in post-test in comparison with pre-test, it is understood that some ideas of preservice teachers remained the same. In the light of the results, it is thought that learners are being inexperienced in astronomy, it is required to benefit from teaching materials such as three dimensional models, conceptual change texts, telescope, etc. in teaching basic astronomy concepts.

Keywords: star, sun, comet, constellation, student comprehension