Contribution
Description: The present article covers college students' conceptions that we have collected. Students were probed on a variety of topics related to the Earth's crust and interior. We describe them using the same modalities as were used to collect these conceptions. They are then related to different formulations, organised into a network, of linked concepts. The aim of this presentations is to relate the conceptions of students, the obstacles that have been spotted and the possibilities of overcoming them.
Methodology: Students from four institutions, Marmara University (48), Istanbul University (139), Yildiz University (63), participated in this study. In all, 250 written student responses to open-ended questionnaires were collected. Questionnaires were completed at the beginning of the semester. Data were thus collected from students before, during, and after completion of entry-level geoscience courses. Questionnaire respondents was enrolled in introductory or general education courses in the geosciences at Marmara University, Istanbul University and Yildiz University. A short, open-ended questionnaire eliciting student ideas about earthquakes, the Earth's interior was administered in Fall 2001 and Spring 2002. This questionnaire was designed to cover one topic in each of the two content areas targeted in this study.
Conclusions: This study may also have implications for current educational reform efforts in the geosciences. In particular, college faculty and K-12 teachers are being called upon to teach Earth Science from a systems perspective. Specific concepts identified for mastery by middle school students include clear understanding of the change in landforms resulting from constructive and destructive forces, of plate tectonics, and Earth's history, including the Principle of Uniformitarianism. Our data suggest that college students are primarily situated at the transformation and proto-process levels; this suggests that instruction in Earth Systems Science at all levels may need to first address the general modification of students' ontologies prior to topic-specific instruction. Certainly, further research is needed to study the ideas held by students at all grade levels, how students acquire a specific perspective, and how these perspectives can be modified to align with scientific views. Curricular reform efforts should acknowledge the influence of mental perspectives, especially when addressing conceptual change.
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