A Study of Primary and Secondary School Students’ Alternative Conceptions of Metals

• Main Authors: Hsu, Su-Chuan, 許素娟
• Other Authors: Hsu, Liang-Rong
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/38759539590654439706

碩士 === 臺中師範學院 === 自然科學教育學系碩士班 === 92 === The purpose of this study was to explor the primary and secondary school students’ alternative conceptions of metals by using interviews about instances. The major interviewees included three grades students: the sixth grade students, the eighth grade students, and the first grade of senior high schools students. By modifying the metal related questions (four in total) in the two-tier instrument for "The classification concepts of the students of primary and secondary schools on the chemical properties of materials", developed by Liang-Rong Hsu (2002), the researcher finished the survey and distributed it to two classes of students for each grade. Based on the survey results, the researcher chosed 24 students (eight for each grade) who had multiple alternative conceptions on the metal categorization to have interviews about instances one by one. The results of this study showed that each grade of students used multiple and inconsistent criteria to distinguish whether the materials should be categorized as metal. The researcher also found that even though the students used the common criteria to distinguish the materials, the categorization result won''t be consistent. Each grade of students had a number of alternative conceptions to distinguish the metal materials, including the instinct, the name, the appearance, and the state of the materials; as well as whether the materials are electrical and magnetic, where they came from, whether they are rusting and have been knocked. To analyze the interviews data, we can summarize the students'' alternative conceptions on the metal into several features as follows:（1）intuitive;（2）unstable;（3）unlogical reasoning；（4）coexistent alternative conceptions are conflict and competitive;（5）The daily and school experience have great influence on their judgment. The study''s results also discovered that those students'' alternative conceptions may come from their life experience, school teachings, and personal intuitive conclusions. At the end of this study, the researcher made some propositions on our native natural science teaching and future research aspects.