ALTERNATIVE IDEAS OF STUDENTS 6-10 YEARS OLD FOR THE FORMATION OF SHADOWS IN THE CONTEXT OF GEOMETRIC OPTICS
Abstract
The study of students' alternative ideas of natural science concepts and phenomena is a major objective of Science Education and Pedagogy research. The research presented in this article aims to record the alternative ideas of 6–10-year-old students about the shadow, which is a key phenomenon in Geometric Optics with which we work from Kindergarten to advanced secondary education. Not only for its own understanding, but also because it is the basic introductory phenomenon that underlines the interaction of light with matter. This article presents the results of a study on the understanding of shadow formation by pupils aged 6-10 years, i.e. the first four years of primary education. This is an attempt to understand what the students' misconceptions about the shadow are and how they evolve over time. This research was conducted using a descriptive qualitative design. A total of 402 pupils participated from 19 different primary school classes, divided into four age groups. The survey was conducted through individual semi-directed interviews lasting approximately 11 minutes. The children were asked to answer three tasks, which included different topics related to the formation of shadows. The data analysis was carried out from the transcripts of the interviews using the method of content analysis. Responses were categorised according to their distance from school science knowledge. The results captured significant cognitive barriers to understanding the formation of shadows, and particularly the mechanism of light-opaque barrier interaction. These data show a slight improvement with the age of children, but this is not statistically significant.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v12i10.6211
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