ERIC Number: EJ1067246
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jul
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2324-805X
EISSN: N/A
Students Are Not Highly Familiar with Astronomy Concepts--But What about the Teachers?
Kiroglu, Kasim
Journal of Education and Training Studies, v3 n4 p31-41 Jul 2015
This study aims to assess primary school teachers' knowledge of basic astronomy concepts, such as the sizes and shapes of, and the distances between, the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon, lunar and solar eclipses, and the motions of the Moon and the Earth. Out of a total of 1,533 teachers, 398 (26%) were reached and asked to take a knowledge test. On the knowledge test, the overall performance of the teachers, whose task it is to teach the astronomy concepts in the fifth grade Science and Technology curriculum, stands at 70% while the students' success rate is approximately 50%. It is noteworthy that approximately one out of every three teachers answered the questions incorrectly. In this study, the primary school teachers' low performance on the same questions as the students can be observed as an indicator of this. Placing an astronomy course in undergraduate level in the elementary school teacher-training program could be useful. Thus, pre-service teachers have enough knowledge regarding astronomy subjects before starting their careers.
Descriptors: Astronomy, Scientific Concepts, Elementary School Teachers, Knowledge Level, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Grade 5, Elementary School Science, Teacher Education Programs, Foreign Countries, Statistical Analysis, Tests
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A