Understanding pre-service elementary school teachers’ mental models about seasonal change

Authors

  • Jun-Young Oh Hanyang University, Seoul-SOUTH KOREA
  • Su-Kyeong Park Kyungnam University, Changwon-SOUTH KOREA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36681/

Keywords:

Alternative Models, Seasonal Change, Distance Theory, The Inference of Abduction, Pre- Service Teachers’ Science Education

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to develop an abductive procedure that students construct their alternative models, and help teacher to construct their scientific models from initial model to them about seasonal change. The data collected from the paper-pencil test and individual interview with students. For this study, 30 pre-service elementary school teachers(1st grade) were participated. The results of this study show that the students had apparent alternative conceptions, and that the 'distance theory' had most important effects on their alternative conceptions. In order to find the origin of structure of their alternative conceptions about seasonal change, we reconstructed the forming process of their alternative concepts according to the inference patterns of abduction. The revision types of main hypothesis as a their alternative models is done through their early age perceptions of typical celestial bodies rather than the acquired specific knowledge, and have the expansion, contraction, and revision of main theory. Implications for pre-service teachers’ science education and related research were discussed. For teachers to successfully guide elementary school students in scientific activities, teachers must possess both the appropriate scientific knowledge and the necessary abductive inference skills.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aliseda, A. (2000). Abduction as epistemic change: a Peircian model artificial intelligence, In P. A.Flash and A.C. Kakas (Eds.), Abduction and Induction: Essays on their Relation and Integration, Applied Logic Series, Volume 18 (pp. 45-58).Netherlands: Springer.

Atwood, R.K. & Atwood, V.A. (1996). Pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptions of the causes of seasons. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 33, 553–563.

Charniak, E. & McDermott, D. (1985). Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesly.

Darden, L. (1992). Strategies for Anomaly Resolution. In Giere, R. (Eds.), Cognitive models of science(pp. 251-273). Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

Eames, S. M. (1977). Pragmatic Naturalism: An Introduction, In S. M. Eames(Eds.). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press

Eylon, B.-S. & Linn, M. C. (1988). Learning and instruction: An Examination of Four Research Perspectives in Science Education. Review of Educational Research,58(3), 251-301.

Feigenberg. J., Lavrik, L., & Shunyakov, V. (2002). Space Scale: Models in the History of Science and Students' Mental Models. Science & Education, 11, 377-392.

Gärdenfors, P. (1988). Knowledge in Flux, Cambridge: MIT Press,

Hanson, N. R. (1961). Is There a Logic of Scientific Discovery. In H. Feigl and G. Maxwell (Eds.), Current Issues in the Philosophy of Science. New York: Holt, Rinchart and Winston, Inc.

Hanson, N. R. (1965). Notes Toward a Logic of Discovery. In R. J. Bernstein (Ed.), Perspectives on Peirce (pp.42-65). New Haven/London: Yale University Press.

Harman, G. H. (1965). The inference to the Best Explanation, Philosophical Review, 74, 88-95.

Hanson, N. R. (1972). Patterns of Discovery: An Inquiry into the Conceptual Foundations of Science, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Harman, G. (1973). Thought. Prinston: Prinston University Press.

Hewson, P. W. (1981). A conceptual change approach to learning science. European Journal of Science Education, 3, 383-396.

Hewson, P. W., & Hewson, M. G. (1988). An Appropriate Conception of Teaching Science: A View from Studies of Science Learning. Science Education, 72, 597-614.

Josephson, J. R. & Josephson, S. G. (1996). Conceptual Analysis of Abduction, in R. Josephson, & S. G. Josephson(Eds.), Abductive Inference: Computation, Philosophy, Technology. New York: Cambridge University Press,

Kasterns, K., & Rivet, A. (2010). Using analogical mapping to assess the affordances of scale models used in earth and environmental science education. In C. Hölscher et al. (Eds.), Spatial Cognition Ⅶ, LNAI 6222 (pp. 112-124). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Kikas, E. (1998a). Pupils' explanations of seasonal changes: age differences and the influence of teaching. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 505-516.

Kikas, E. (1998b). The impact of teaching on students' definitions and explanations of astronomical phenomena. Learning and Instruction, 8, 439-454.

Lakatos, I. (1970). Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programs. In I. Lakatos & A. Musgrave (Eds.), Criticism and the growth of knowledge (pp. 91-196). New York: Cambridge University Press, 91-196

Laudan, L. (1977), Progress and Its Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth(p.78). Berkeley: University of California Press,

Laudan, R. (1987). From mineralogy to geology: the foundations of a science (pp. 1650-1830): Chicago, University of Chicago.

Lawson, A. E. (2010). Basic Inferences of Scientific Reasoning, Argumentation, and Discovery.Science Education, 94, 336-364.

Lycan, W. G. (1988).Judgment and Justification, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Magnani, L. (2001). Abduction, Reason, and Science process of Discovery and Explanation. Dordrechet: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers,

McComas, W. (2000). A thematic introduction to the nature of science: The rationale and content of a course for science education. in W. McComas(Eds.),The nature in science education: rationale and strategies. New York: Kluwer Academic Publication.

Nersessian, N. J. (2002). Inconsistency, Generic Modeling, and Conceptual Change in Science, in J. Meheus(Eds.), Inconsistency in Science (pp.197-211). Netherlands: Kluwer Acadeic Publishers.

Nickles, T. (1987).Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality. Dordrecht: Reidel.

Niiniluoto, I. (1999). Abduction and Geometrical Analysis. Notes on Charles S. Peirce and Edgar Allan Poe. In L. Magnani, NH.J. Nersessian and P. Thagard (Eds.), Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific Discovery. New York: Kluwer Academy/Plenum Publishers.

Oh, J.-Y. & Kim, Y.S. (2006). Pre-service Elementary Teacher Mental Models about Astronomical Phenomena: Seasons and Moon Phases. Journal of Korean Association for Research in Science Education, 26(1), 68-87.

Oh, J.-Y. (2012). Understanding Scientific Inference in the Natural Sciences Based on Abductive Inference Strategies. In L. Magnani, and P. Li (Eds.), Philosophy and Cognitive Science: Western & Eastern Studies, Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics Volume 2 (pp. 221-237), Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London: Springer.

Oh, J.-Y. (2013). Understanding Natural Science based on Abductive Inference: Continental Drift. Foundations of Science, Online First

Peirce, C. S. Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce[ab. CP], 8vols. C. Hartshorne and P. Weiss (1931-1958)(Eds.) vols. 1-6: A. W. Burk(1931-1958)(Ed.) vols. 7-8, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Peterson, N. S., & Jungck, J. R. (1988). Problem-Posing, Problem-Solving and Persuasion in Biology Education. Academic Computing, 2(6), 14-50.

Posner, G. J., Strike, K. A., Hewson, P. W. & Gertzog, W. A. (1982). Accommodation of a Scientific Conception:toward a Theory of Conceptual Change. Science Education, 66, 211-277.

Rescher, N.(1978). Peirce's philosophy of science. Notre Dame-London: university of Notre Dame Press.

Thagard, P. (1992). Conceptual Revolutions(pp.65-67).Princeton: Princeton University Press,

Thagard, P.(1988). Computational philosophy of science(pp.1-35).Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Toulmin, S.(1972). Human Understanding(pp.303-318). Princeton University Press: New Jersey.

Trumper, R. (2006). Teaching future teachers basic astronomy concepts—seasonal changes—at a time of reform in science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 43(9), 879–906.

Vosniadou, S. (1994). Capturing and modeling the process of conceptual change. Learning and Instruction, 4, 45-69. Watson, J. R., Pristo, T., and Dillon, J. S. (1997). Consistency of students' explanations about combustion. Science Education, 81, 425-443.

Walton, D. (2004). Abductive reasoning. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.

Downloads

Issue

Section

Articles

Published

15.09.2014 — Updated on 15.09.2014

Versions

How to Cite

Oh, J.-Y., & Park, S.-K. (2014). Understanding pre-service elementary school teachers’ mental models about seasonal change. Journal of Turkish Science Education, 11(3), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.36681/

Similar Articles

1-10 of 576

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.