MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ASTRONOMY CONCEPTS AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS ASTRONOMY

2022-2-10
Yıldız Tezer, Ayşe
In this study, 6th and 7th grade middle school students’ misconceptions about astronomy concepts and their attitudes towards astronomy were investigated. Moreover, the relationships between students’ misconceptions about astronomy concepts and their attitudes towards astronomy and differences in gender, grade level, interest in astronomy, and future occupation in terms of misconceptions about astronomy concepts and attitudes towards astronomy were investigated. The sample consisted of 360 6th grade and 348 7th grade students. A demographic questionnaire, the Misconceptions Test About Astronomy Concepts (MTAC), and the Attitude Astronomy Scale (AAS) were used to collect data. The students’ misconceptions about astronomy concepts were assessed using Microsoft Excel. MANOVA and correlational analysis were also conducted to analyse the data. The analysis revealed that both 6th and 7th grade students had the same misconceptions. The correlational analysis revealed that for 6th grade and 7th grade students, there were positive correlations between their attitudes towards astronomy and misconceptions about astronomy concepts. In terms of attitudes towards astronomy, there was no significant difference between 6th and 7th grade students for all sub-factors. MANOVA analysis revealed that being interested was a considerable difference between male and female students. There was a significant impact of interest in astronomy and future occupation on all sub-factors of AAS. For 6th and 7th grade students, MANOVA analysis revealed a significant gender difference only for the 6th grade students’ misconceptions score. For both 6th and 7th grade students, there was a significant difference in their interest in astronomy in terms of correct response scores, but for misconception scores, the significant difference was observed for only 7th grade students. For future occupation, the significant difference was only found in 7th grade students’ correct response scores.

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Citation Formats
A. Yıldız Tezer, “MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ASTRONOMY CONCEPTS AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS ASTRONOMY,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.