Journal of Baltic Science Education, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009

Vol.8, No.
3, 2009
ISSN 1648-3898
Journal of Baltic Science Education, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009
Editorial Board ISSN 1648–3898
Editor-in-Chief
Prof., Dr. Vincentas Lamanauskas Siauliai University, Lithuania
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Prof., Dr. Andris Broks University of Latvia, Latvia
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Prof., Dr. habil. Aarne Tõldsepp Estonian Chemistry Teachers Association, Estonia
Executive Secretary
Dr. Laima Railienė Scientific Methodical Center “Scientia Educologica”, Lithuania
Editors:
Prof., Dr. Martin Bilek University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Prof., Dr. Hana Čtrnáctová Charles University, Czech Republic
Dr. Peter Demkanin Comenius University, Slovakia
Prof., Dr. Jānis Gedrovics Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management
Academy, Latvia
Prof., Dr. Ryszard M. Janiuk Maria Curie Sklodowska University, Poland
Dr. Rita Makarskaitė-Petkevičienė Vilnius Pedagogical University, Lithuania
Prof., Dr. Aadu Ott Göteborg University, Sweden
Dr. Paul Pace Malta University, Malta
Prof., Dr. Valfrids Paškevičs Daugavpils University, Latvia
Dr. Raffaele Pisano European Society for the History of Science, Italy
Dr. Pavol Prokop Institute of Zoology, Bratislava, Slovakia
Dr. Miia Rannikmäe Tartu University, Estonia
Dr. Alona Rauckienė Klaipėda University, Lithuania
Dr. Kurt Riquarts Kiel University, Germany
Prof., Dr. Heimo Saarikko Helsinki University, Finland
Dr. Uladzimir K. Slabin University of Oregon, USA
Prof., Dr. Valery P. Solomin Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Russia
Prof., Dr. Borislav V. Toshev Sofia University, Bulgaria
Dr. Georgios Tsaparlis University of Ioannina, Greece
Dr. Muhammet Usak Dumlupinar University, Turkey
A scientific journal JBSE issued by the SMC Scientia Educologica, Lithuania, emphasizes theoretical, ex-
perimental and methodical studies in the field of science education. JBSE is an international academic
journal. In order to maintain the high standards appropriate to such a journal, all contributions re-
ceived are submitted for anonymous review by two experts, additionally to review by the Editor. The
decision of the Editor on the acceptance of articles is final and no correspondence can be entered into
on reasons for rejection of a submitted contribution.
Published since 2002

The journal is published three times per year in March, August and November.
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ISSN 1648–3898 © Scientific Methodical Center „Scientia Educologica“ /Lithuania/,

The associated member of Lithuanian Scientific Society and ICASE
The articles appearing in this journal are indexed/abstracted in British Education Index (http://www.leeds.
ac.uk/bei/bei.htm), Copernicus Index (http://journals.indexcopernicus.com), The Asian Education Index (http://
www.asian-education-index.com/sciences_index.php), EBSCO: Academic Search Premier (http://search.ebsco-
host.com), Social Scisearch (Thomson Reuters) (http://science.thomsonreuters.com/index.html) and Journal
138 Citation Reports / Social Sciences Edition (Thomson Reuters) (http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/
scientific/Journal_Citation_Reports)
ISSN 1648–3898 CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Editorial
THE RELEVANT ASPECTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION HUMANIZATION

Vincentas Lamanauskas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Articles
THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY PROCESS IN IMPROVING THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF

PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS ABOUT MOTION
Aykut Emre Bozdoğan, Murat Demirbaş . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
ATTITUDES SCALE TOWARDS “NANO TECHNOLOGY” FOR CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

Nilgün Seçken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS GRAPHS

Frackson Mumba, Erin Wilson, Vivien M. Chabalengula, William Mejia, & Simeon Mbewe . . . . . . 172
A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE REPRESENTATION OF LIGHT FOR FIVE-,

EIGHT- AND TEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN: DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVES
Konstantinos Ravanis, Jean Marie Boilevin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
CHILDREN’S CONCEPTIONS OF ANIMAL BREATHING: A CROSS – AGE AND

CROSS – CULTURAL COMPARISON
Pavol Prokop, Muhammet Usak, Murat Özel, Jana Fančovičová . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Information
INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

IN NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION – 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
DiVAI 2010. DISTANCE LEARNING IN APPLIED INFORMATICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
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THE RELEVANT ASPECTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

HUMANIZATION
Dear Readers!
It is obvious that the theories of Piaget and Bruner left some gaps in the assessment of the evolution
of children‘s individuality. Naturally, it was noticed by such famous researchers as Maslow, Rogers, etc.
who were the classics of psychology. From the viewpoint of psychology, self actualization, self-expression,
etc, are notably crucial aspects while the educational process is approached as the pupil‘s intrinsic, con-
trolled phenomenon. To some purpose, the Lithuania’s National Concept of Education (1992) maintains
that humanism is the assertion of human incomparable value, freedom of choice, and responsibility. As
the reform of the Lithuanian educational system is still in progress more and more attention is focused
on individual training and human values fostering. The present humankind has to solve a number of
serious problems. Under the threat of the ecology catastrophe, concern for physical and spiritual health
care is felt. All our relations with nature turn out to be problematic. The establishment of a harmoni-
ous correlation between nature and society becomes an important task. We cannot exclusively rely
on knowledge and mind in any activity as these are not overall dimensions. We also understand hav-
ing no opportunities to become the lords of nature. According to Nazarenko, ecology problems can
be solved taking advantages of science and technology achievements. However, the dynamics of the
process should become individual and public, high virtuous and ecologic culture (Nazarenko, 1993). A
psychologist Asmolov proposes that the worst of it is that culture oriented towards benefit. Therefore,
the humanization and socialization of natural science education is a relevant pedagogic problem.
Humanism, democracy and public spirit are the values common for contemporary school. The
goal of the educational reform is to make a school the place of individual development rather than an
institution of gaining knowledge. Different authors submit various concepts of humanization. Some of
them (Rogers, 1969, Bills, 1981, DeHart Hurd, 2002; etc.) prefer humanization of the educational process,
others emphasize teaching content alteration in terms of its humanization (A.Juška, 1991, Ch. Patterson,
1973, etc.) or stress natural schoolchildren’s need to learn and knowledge (Butkienė, 1993; Lukšienė,
1993). Fostering scientific world outlook is also accentuated because its relevance to natural science
humanization is undoubtedly considerable and contains resistance of moral values to pragmatics and
materialization introducing such basic concepts as the earth, the forest and the lake which are alive as
you and me (Ramančionis, 1996). The author thinks that natural science education is notably supported
by the heritage of an ethnic culture which can be applied:
• trying to engage pupils in relating an expository subject to real life using different interpre-
tations (customs, archaic village routine and works);
• giving a sense to objects and phenomena at spiritual value-based level (mythology, Baltic
religion, folklore);
• as a means to see phenomena and objects (birds call imitation, traditional medicine, ethno
cosmology, weather forecast);
• for natural science education (annual holidays, songs, games, dances, roundelays)
(Ramančionis, 1996).
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Humanization brings science closer to the humanistic criteria (Zakgeim, 1991). The author points
out that the systems created by human being often backfire on themselves. Some authors (Rudenko,
1991, Kuznetsova, 1989, Zakgeim, 1991) perceive humanization as the “humanizing” of training aids.
The educologists of this trend mainly see two ways to solve the problem:
1. “humanizing” of training courses (chemistry, physics, biology), i.e. the popularization of
scientific ideas and theories, highlighting of historic evolution, etc.
2. renovation of training aids (text books, supplementary didactic material, etc.)
Other authors (Uktveris, 1997, Vaitkevičius, 1999, Šapokienė, 1995) find humanization as the
perception of a harmonious interaction between human being and nature. According to Uktveris,
“contemporary school is not ready to perceive and inspire the senselessness of consumerism, i.e. to
lead a consumer way of life to the abyss that uncloses to humankind (Uktveris, 1997). Therefore, con-
temporary humanistic philosophy and other humanistic theories focus on the humankind difficulties
highlighting global crisis scale and format (Aramavičiūtė, 1996). Natural science education performs a
leading role in the process of an individuality creation. Yet ancient thinkers called a man “zoopolitikon”
(Aristotle). However, sciences including natural science education are specific. The essential thing is
a question of what sort of philosophy will be the basis for natural science education (natural science
education is a subject of social knowledge; thus it is a subject of social sciences /educology/). Yet human
being set up “over nature” using extrinsic (sensual) and intrinsic (reflex) methods (20th century natural
science positivism) and even has became the lord of it. Meeting his biological requirements human
being started reformation of nature itself disregarding for possible consequences. Humankind has
survived a negative influence of various theories (racism, Nazism, Marxism, social Darwinism, etc.). A
well known Lithuanian thinker Paškus stated that “Marx paid attention to the lack of bread, Froid – to
the lack of sex and Frankl – to the lack of sense. A westerner has already been full of bread and libido
but the questions of purport of life still worry. The signs of spiritual hunger seems to appear brighter
and brighter (Pa kus, 1992). The utopian ideas to create a “sterile” Gnostic instrument on the basis
of natural science and biologic reductionism prevailed in the 20th century. G.Merkys maintains that
an idea of constructive compatibility of various cognitive strategies is postulated in contemporary
social research methodology (Merkys, 1997). Therefore, modern philosophical movements such as
phenomenalism, pantheism, etc. understand human being as a systemic unity of the body, psyche
(mind, emotions, volition) and spirit (trust, hope, love). In this unity context is only possible natural
science humanization.
Thus, considering the problems of phenomenological – hermeneutic natural science education
(the aspects of hypotheses generation, interpretation attempts, holistic approach towards an individual
and society) becomes righteous.
Pre-eminently the humanization of natural science education means the raise of

values in the educational process
Yet human being perceives aesthetical, ethical or other values only when exceptionally subtly
minded. The perception of nature as a value is primarily delimited the material interests. Aestheti-
cal values are versatile and serve everyone. Perceiving and cherishing ethical values and moreover,
following them is a more difficult task. A human educational process is a marvellous one as it is able
to point out the subtle features of human mind and soul. From this standpoint, natural sciences
teaching at school are very auspicious. In this case, the humanization of natural science education
can be understood as an undivided action of the basic education principles in the training process.
The humanization of natural science education (as indicated in the matrix) is only effective when
implementing the systemic expression of these principles in the educational process.
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Figure 1. The matrix of the humanization of natural science education (Lamanauskas, 2003).
Another important aspect of the humanization of the educational process is that we need to
pay close attention to responsibility sustaining and ability to predict possible negative outcomes
(in nature and society).
Facing the problem of humanization three aspects should be emphasized:
• the child in the family (living conditions, human/ unhuman relations among family mem-
bers, parents’ attitude towards school and their position on the educational methods
used in the family, etc.);
• the child at school (the teacher’s figure, his/ her professional competence, the under-
standing of goals, activity, the correlation between students and teachers, a sense of
fear, constant tension in the classroom or self-confidence and mutual respect, formalism/
in-formalism teaching natural sciences etc.);
• the child in society (socialization, society’s value orientation towards nature, active child’s
interaction with a natural/social environment, etc.). A spontaneous interest of the world
study is typical for him/her as s/he is opened to new information (Skvorcov, 2002).
School and family education closely correlate and are interdependent. Teaching natural sci-
ences obliges:
• to frame a concept of nature as a value in the child’s (pupil’s) consciousness;
• to promote deliberate, exemplary behaviour in nature;
• to stimulate an intense students’ environmental activity.
The following practic solutions of humanization of natural science education can be high-
lighted:
• training courses should include such topics as an energy crisis, air and water pollution,
solid waste utilization, food resources and healthy diets, the impact of drugs, nicotine,
alcohol and cosmetics on human organism, science and technology progress and the
quality of life, revolution in natural sciences (for instance, biology), etc.;
• to apply different forms of individual work with students, e.g. designing, games, imita-
tion, field practice, etc. According to Piaget, games are the most important factor in
the child’s socio-cultural development; to refuse such methods of teaching as testing
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animals (demonstration, preparation, etc.);

• every child has to be involved into the intense activity of natural history whetting a wish
to know and research and preaching a healthy way of life in a protected environment
(explaining the outcomes of negative social phenomena such as alcohol, drugs, etc.).
When participating in the activities of natural history we should avoid emphasizing the
utilitarian (pragmatic) aspect of research. A well known educator Ruzgas proposed that
children often damaged nature only because their humanistic approach had not been
developed – they did not understand the importance of nature to human being, did
not perceive its beauty, etc.
Thus, contemporary school cannot be the only educational institution that trains the young
generation for life – it has to be life itself. The child should not have felt being under an obligation
and trying to escape from it. In conclusion we can maintain that:
• the subjects of natural sciences have to help the child to accept the concept of healthy
way of life;
• the unity of perceptive and practical activities is a very important condition for humani-
zation, We have to integrate the scientific knowledge of the interaction of the system
Nature -Human Being – Society;
• human interrelationship among people should be fostered.
• natural science education ruins the formed ethnic natural outlook independently of
national culture and changes value-based orientation (Ramančionis, 1996).
•
The essence of the natural outlook is a peaceful human life with nature.
Finally, we can clearly emphasize that natural science education should be much more “hu-
manized” than up to now. Let’s keep this topic open.
References
Aramavičiūtė, V. (1996). Dvasingumas ir meilė. Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia, T.3, p. 67-85.

Butkienė G. (1993). Valios ugdymas. Kn.: Lietuvos švietimo reformos gairės. Vilnius: Leidybos centras,
p.263-273.
DeHart Hurd, P. (2002). Modernizing science education. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 39,
Issue 1, p. 3-9.
Juška, A. 1991. Jie mokė mus. Kaunas: Šviesa. 158 p.
Lamanauskas, V. (2003). Natural Science Education in Contemporary School. Siauliai: Siauliai University
Press, 514p.
Lietuvos švietimo koncepcija. (1992). Vilnius [National Concept of Education].
Lukšienė M. (1993). Atsinaujinimo (kaitos) nuostata ir poreikis. Kn.: Lietuvos švietimo reformos gairės.
Vilnius: Valstybinis leidybos centras.
Merkys G. (1997). Socialiniai mokslai: reanimacija ar renesansas. Socialiniai tyrimai, 1 (1), 4-8.
Patterson Ch. (1973). Humanistic Education. New York.
Paškus A. (1992). Idėjų sankryžoje. Kaunas, p.56.
Ramančionis D. (1996). Gamtinė pasaulėžiūra ir tautinė kultūra. Kn.: Gamtamokslinis ugdymas pagrindinėje
bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje. Vilnius: Žaliasis pasaulis, p. 4-5.
Šapokienė E. (1995). Ekologinio ugdymo sistema mokykloje. Kn.: Gamtamokslinis ugdymas vidurinėje
bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje: problemos ir perspektyvos. Vilnius: Žaliasis pasaulis, p. 4.
Uktveris A. (1997). Ekošvietėjiško laikraščio “Žaliasis pasaulis” galimybės: tausojančiojo vartotojo ugdymas.
Kn.: Gamtamokslinis ugdymas bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje (III respublikinės mokslinės praktinės konferencijos
straipsnių rinkinys). Vilnius, p.84.
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Vaitkevičius J. (1999). Pasaulėžiūros formavimas dėstant gamtos mokslų ciklo dalykus vidurinėje mokykloje.
Kn.: Gamtamokslinis ugdymas bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje (V respublikinės mokslinės konferencijos straipsnių
rinkinys). Vilnius: Žaliasis pasaulis, p. 108-112.
Закгейм, А.Ю. (1991). Гуманизация и гуманитаризация химии - что это такое? Химия в школе, №. 2,
с. 3-5.
Кузнецова, Л.В. (1989). Гуманизация учебно-воспитательного процесса. Биология в школе, №. 6, с.
27-30.
Назаренко, В.М. (1993). Роль социальных, естественнонаучных и технических понятий в формировании
экологических знаний. Химия в школе, №.2, с. 37-41.
Руденко, А.П. (1991). Пособие для реализации идеи гуманизации химического образования. Химия
в школе, №. 5, с. 21-22.
Скворцов П.М. (2002). Биологическое образование: современные проблемы. Биология в школе, №.1.
с. 32.
Vincentas Lamanauskas
Editor-in-Chief of JBSE
144
THE EFFECT OF
UNIVERSITY PROCESS
IN IMPROVING THE
MISCONCEPTIONS OF
PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE
TEACHERS ABOUT MOTION
Aykut Emre Bozdoğan Abstract. In this paper, the effects of uni-
Murat Demirbaş versity experiences in improving the mis-

conceptions of pre-service science teachers
about motion (displacement, distance,
average velocity and speed) they brought
from secondary education were investigat-
Introduction
ed. This descriptive study was conducted in
One of the most essential aims of science education is to Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Education
enable students to take advantage of the information and the between 2003 - 2007 academic years. Total
techniques they acquired to explain daily events from a scientific
52 students studying in science education
point of view and use them in their daily lives. Thus, it is necessary
for students to learn the concepts meaningfully especially at the department took part in the study. In the
primary education level, because the scientific concepts acquired data collection, 12 open-ended questions
correctly at primary education level enable lifelong learning by were asked to pre-service science teachers
building up the basis of further levels of schooling.
both in the 1st and 4th years. Frequency
The concepts are the first connotations that occur in mind
while one is talking about a subject (Çepni, 2005). Science classes tables and percentages were used for
are generally composed of concepts about physics, chemistry analyzing and presenting the data. The
and biology. Students gain several experiences about these paper concludes by arguing that university
concepts long before they start education. Misconceptions arise
process could not remove the miscon-
if concepts acquired from experiences do not correspond with
the scientifically accepted concepts (Erdoğan, 2003). In literature, ceptions of pre-service science teachers
the misconceptions in science education are defined as students regarding the definitions and quantities of
having misunderstanding, false information and opinions about displacement, distance, average velocity,
the concepts of the course subjects (Morgil et al., 2001), the be-
speed, and operational questions.
haviors as a result of incorrect beliefs and experiences (Baki,1999),
the student concepts, which are unacceptable and contrary to Key words: motion concepts, misconcep-
science (Chambers and Andre, 1997) or the personal experiences tion, science education.
contradicting scientific facts and preventing teaching and learn-
ing of scientifically proven concepts (Çakir and Yürük, 1999). These
acquired misconceptions as a result of students’ experiences are
major obstacles to producing new information and to forming
relationships with other subjects, shortly, to providing meaningful Aykut Emre Bozdoğan
learning experiences. Berg and Brouwer (1991) studied teachers’ Giresun University, Turkey
awareness of misconceptions of students about rotation and Murat Demirbaş
gravity concepts. Similarly, Boyle and Maloney (1991) investigated Kırıkkale University, Turkey
145
THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY PROCESS IN IMPROVING THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF ISSN 1648–3898
(P. 145-156)
the influence of written texts on the usage and comprehension of Newton’s Third Law. In another
study Levin, Siegler and Druyan (1990) investigated the formation, development and the influence
on the learning environment of misconceptions about the subject of motion.
Since the second quarter of 20th century, many studies were conducted inquiring the reasons
and removal of misconceptions. These studies highlighted that there are same misconceptions in dif-
ferent education systems in different countries (Shipstone et al., 1988), and that these misconceptions
could be encountered at any level of schooling from primary school to university (Kabapinar, 2007).
This is also the case for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology concepts that take place in science content.
In another study (Duit, 1993; cited by Güneş et al., 2002) 1400 articles about the students’ sci-
ence (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) conceptions that were published between years 1977 and 1993
were classified and it was shown that most studies were conducted about physics education (physics
education 66%, chemistry education 14%, and biology education 20%). Also, it was found that among
the topics of physics, the mechanics subjects (25%) are the ones on which most studies were carried
out. The previous studies on mechanics topics (Clement, 1982; McDermott, 1984; Shymansky et al.,
1997; Tao and Gunstone, 1999; Eryilmaz, 2002; Güneş and others., 2002; Demirci, 2003; Jimoyiannis
ve Komis, 2003; Gülçiçek and Yağbasan, 2004; Yıldız and others., 2006) brought out that the students
had a lot of misconceptions in subjects such as motion, force, acceleration and velocity.
These studies reported that the students may adopt several false concepts while learning the
concepts about physics because of some factors (learning physics laws by rote, not being able to learn
the concepts meaningfully, instructors’ lack in identifying the pre-existing knowledge of students
and performing the necessary concept correction during the lesson, the abstract nature of physics
and so forth) (Kara et al., 2003; Aydoğan et al., 2003). The students are observed to come to physics
classes with prejudices so they have difficulty understanding the concepts and they pass on to the
higher levels of schooling with a lot of misconceptions (Demirci, 2003).
Some researchers state that the best way to develop science education is to determine the
comprehension level of the pre-service science teachers on scientific concepts, also help them make
research and observation with scientific applications, enable them to compare their pre-existing
knowledge with their findings and help them correct their misconceptions by letting them gain sci-
entific perspectives (Black, 2006). In this study, we attempted to find out whether the misconceptions
(about the motion subject) of the students entering the university process brought from secondary
school changed at the end of university process. Thus, it was aimed in this way to find the effects of
university process on remedying the misconceptions.
The aim of the study
In the study the answers of the pre-service science teachers about motion, distance, average
velocity and speed both in the 1st and 4th years were examined, the effect of university process on
correcting the misconceptions were examined and the following questions were posed.
1. Is there any effect of university process (in the 1st and 4th years) of pre-service science
teachers on removing the misconceptions about the definition of displacement, distance,
average velocity and speed?
teachers on remedying the misconceptions about the quantities of displacement, dis-
tance, average velocity and speed?
teachers on misconceptions in the solution of operational questions about displace-
ment, distance, average velocity and speed??
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ISSN 1648–3898 THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY PROCESS IN IMPROVING THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF
(P. 145-156)
Methodology of Research
The model of the research
In this research, descriptive method was used. This method is used to clarify a given state, to make
evaluations according to the standards and to find the possible relationships between the events. In
such researches, the main aim is to describe and explicate the state comprehensively (Çepni, 2007). In
this study the answers of pre-service science teachers about the definition and quantity of and opera-
tional questions about displacement, distance, average velocity and speed both in the 1st and in the
4th years were explored.
This research was implemented in Ahi Evran University, Faculty of Education between years 2003
and 2007. Total 52 students of Science Education Department participated in the inquiry.
Procedures
During data collection, open-ended questions that needed to be answered by the pre-service sci-
ence teachers both in the 1st and 4th years were used. Data-gathering tool consisted of 12 questions
covering the definitions and quantities (matching type questions) of displacement, distance, average
velocity and speed, and operational questions encompassing these concepts and requiring mathemati-
cal operations (APPENDIX-1). The implementation steps of the research are explained below.
1. In September of 2002-2003 academic year, 58 participant pre-service science teachers were
asked 12 open-ended questions about the definition of displacement, distance, average
velocity and speed, their quantities and questions covering these concepts and requiring
mathematical operations. In this way, the misconceptions of pre-service science teachers
about the given concepts before they entered university were identified.
2. In May of 2006 - 2007 academic year, 52 of 58 (4th year) students who had taken part in the
research in the 1st year were accessed and asked to answer the same open-ended ques-
tions.
3. The answers of 52 students in the 1st and 4th years were analyzed simultaneously with the
help of standard answer key prepared by the researchers. Each correct answer was given
1 point and each incorrect answer was given 0 point to calculate total score. Through this
method, the effect of university experience on removing the misconceptions of pre-service
science teachers was inquired.
Data analysis
The data drawn from the answers of pre-service science teachers to the questions were analyzed
and independently classified by 3 different researchers. Later, these groups were compared and brought
together. Frequency distributions were derived and the opinions of the participant pre-service science
teachers sustaining the results of this analysis were added. Each correct answer to the open-ended
questions both in the 1st and 4th years was equated to 1 point and each wrong answer was equated
to 0 point, and the difference between the answers was analyzed with t-test.
Results of Research
The findings regarding the answers given to the definitions of displacement,

distance, average velocity and speed concepts
Correct and incorrect answers given to the definitions of displacement, distance, average velocity
and speed were examined and frequency distributions were given in Table 1.
147
(P. 145-156)
Table 1 . The frequency distributions of true and false answers given for the definitions of displace-
ment, displacement, average velocity and speed concepts.
1st Year 4th Year
Concepts
Correct Incorrect Correct Incorrect
(f) (f) (f) (f)
Displacement 44 8 44 8
Distance 30 22 27 25
Avg. Velocity 20 32 7 45
Speed 3 49 8 44
As the answers given to the descriptions in Table 1 are examined, it seems that the number of
students giving correct answer to the definition of displacement both in the 1st and 4th years is 44.
Besides, regarding the definition of displacement concept, 40 students defined displacement concept
correctly both in the 1st and 4th years, but 4 students defined displacement incorrectly both in the 1st
and 4th years. Some of the student answers for both cases are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
The shortest distance between the first and the last posi- √ The vector distance between the first and the last positions √
tions of an object (E13) of a moving object (E13)
The distance covered per unit time (K17) - The total distance for an object to get from position a to -
position b (K17)
Moreover, we found that 4 students defined the concept correctly in the 1st year but incorrectly in
the 4th, while 4 students defined the concept incorrectly in the 1st year but correctly in the 4th. Some
of the student answers for both cases are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
The direction-aware distance between the last position √ Getting from one place to another provided not turning -
and the first position of an object (K37) back to the same place(K37)
Moving from one place to another (E20) - The direction aware distance between the last position and √
the first position(E20)
As it appears in table 1, when all of the answers about distance are examined, it will be obvious that
the number of students giving correct definition in the 1st year was 30 while it was 27 in the 4th year.
Regarding the definition of distance, 23 students gave correct definitions both in the 1st and 4th years,
whereas 12 students gave incorrect definitions both at 1st and 4th years. Some of the student answers
for both cases are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
The total ground covered by an object throughout its √ The total ground covered by a moving object beginning √
motion (E13) from the starting point (E13)
The velocity per unit time(K29) - The displacement in a particular period of time (K29) -
Also, regarding the definition of distance, 7 students defined the concept of distance correctly in
the 1st but incorrectly in the 4th year, 10 students defined it incorrectly in the 1st but correctly in the
4th year. Some of the student answers for both cases are given below.
148
(P. 145-156)
Year 1 Year 4
The total distance covered from one point to another (E38) √ The displacement in a particular period of time (E38) -
The displacement of the moving object per unit time (E21) - The total ground covered by an object throughout its √
motion (E21)
When the answers regarding the definition of average velocity are examined as a whole as shown in
table 1, we see that the number of the students giving correct definition in the 1st year was 20 while the
number of students giving correct definition in the 4th year was 7. Regarding the definition of average
velocity, it was found that 3 students defined the concept correctly both in the 1st and 4th years while
28 students defined it incorrectly both at 1st and 4th years. Some of the student answers for both cases
are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
The rate of total displacement of an object on a linear √ The division of total displacement of an object to time (E39) √
route to total time (E39)
The ratio of the total distance covered after the beginning - The division of total distance to total time (E50) -
of motion to total time (E50)
Besides, we saw that 17 students having defined the concept correctly at 1st year defined it incor-
rectly in the 4th year, and 4 students having defined the concept incorrectly in the 1st year defined it
correctly in the 4th year. Some of the student answers for both cases are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
The rate of total displacement of an object on a linear The total distance covered by an object divided by total
√ -
route to total time (E34) time (E34)
The velocity of an object in the meantime covering a The division of total displacement of a moving object to
- √
distance (E26) total time (E26)
When we look at Table 1 for the definition of speed, it appears that while the number of the stu-
dents answering correctly was 3 in the 1st year, it increased to 8 in the 4th year. On the other hand, 41
students defined the concept of speed incorrectly both in the 1st and 4th years. Also, it seems that 3
students defined it correctly in the 1st year but incorrectly in the 4th year, and 8 students defined it
incorrectly in the 1st year but correctly in the 4th year. Some of the student answers for all the three
cases are given below.
Year 1 Year 4
Not same as velocity, velocity is scalar, speed is vector.

- The change of velocity (K15) -
Can be called as speediness (K15)
The total distance an object covers in a certain amount
√ The velocity of an object (E40) -
time (E40)
The ratio of the total distance covered by a moving object
The velocity of moving object (E4) - √
to total time (E4)
The findings regarding the quantities of displacement, distance,

average velocity and speed concepts
The correct and incorrect answers to the concepts about the quantity of displacement, distance, av-
erage velocity and speed concepts have been examined and frequency distributions are given below.
149
(P. 145-156)
Table 2. The frequency distributions of correct and incorrect answers about the quantities of
displacement, distance, average velocity and speed concepts.
1st Year 4th Year
Concepts
(f) (f) (f) (f)
Speed 31 21 42 10
As table 2 is examined, it is clear that while the number of the students answering correctly to the
quantity of displacement is 46, it is 42 in the 4th year, and for the quantity of the distance, the number
of the correct answers is 31 both in the 1st and 4th years. In addition, the number of correct answers
for the quantity of average velocity is 30 in the 1st year, 29 in the 4th year; the number of the correct
answers for the quantity of Speed is 31 in the first year while it increases to 42 in the 4th year. Some of
the student answers are below.
Year 1 Year 4
(K7) (K7)
(E16) (E16)
(K1) (K1)
(K11)
(K11)
150
(P. 145-156)
For displacement, it occurs that 38 students described displacement as a vector quantity (true)
both in the 1st and 4th years but 2 students described displacement as a scalar quantity (false) both in
the 1st and 4th years. It appears that 8 students described displacement as a vector quantity in the 1st
but as a scalar quantity in the 4th year while 4 students described displacement as a scalar quantity in
the 1st but as a vector in the 4th year.
For the distance, 21 students described distance as a scalar quantity both at 1st and 4th years (true),
11 students described the quantity of distance as a vector quantity both in the 1st and 4th years (false).
10 students described distance as a scalar quantity in the 1st but vector in the 4th, while 10 students
defined the distance as a vector quantity in the 1st but scalar quantity in the 4th year.
For the quantity of average velocity, 21 students appeared to define velocity as a vector quantity
both in the 1st and 4th years (true), 14 students defined the average velocity as a scalar quantity both
in the 1st and 4th years (false). 9 students defined average velocity as a vector quantity in the 1st but a
scalar quantity in the 4th year. 8 students described the average velocity as a scalar quantity in the 1st
but as a vector in the 4th year.
For the quantity of speed, 23 students stated that speed is a scalar quantity in both 1st and 4th
years (true), while 2 students stated it as a vector quantity both in the 1st and 4th years (false). 8 students
described it as a scalar quantity in the 1st but as a vector in the 4th year, while 19 students defined the
distance as a vector quantity in the 1st but as a scalar quantity in the 4th year.
The Findings Regarding the Operational Questions about Displacement, Distance,

Average Velocity and Speed
After the answers given to the operational questions about displacement, distance, average velocity
and speed have been examined, the frequency distributions given in Table 3 below were found.
Table 3. The frequency distributions of correct and incorrect answers given to the operational
questions about displacement, distance, average velocity and speed.
1st Year 4th Year
Concepts
(f) (f) (f) (f)
Speed -- 52 3 49
As table 3 is examined, while the number of the true answers given to the operational question about
displacement both in the 1st and 4th years is 40, the number of the true answers given to operational
question about distance in the 1st year is 39 and in the 4th year it is 40. As the questions about average
velocity are examined, the total number of true answers was found to be only 2 in the 1st year and only
3 in the 4th year. In addition, it was detected that no students gave correct answer to the operational
question about speed in the 1st year and only 3 of them could give a correct answer in the 4th year.
Regarding displacement, 32 students gave correct answers to the operational question both in the
1st and 4th years, 4 students gave incorrect answers both in the 1st and 4th years. 8 students appeared
to answer correctly to the operational question about displacement in the 1st year but they answered
it incorrectly in the 4th year. In contrast, 8 students appeared to answer correctly to the operational
question about displacement in the 1st year but they answered incorrectly in the 4th year. Some of the
student answers are below. It appears that 33 students gave correct answers to the operational question
both in the 1st and 4th years while 6 students gave incorrect answers in the 1st and 4th years. While 6
151
(P. 145-156)
students gave correct answers to the operational question in the 1st year, they gave incorrect answers
in the 4th year. 7 students appeared to answer correctly to the operational question about displacement
in the 1st year but they answered incorrectly in the 4th year. Some of the student answers are below.
A motorist rides North for 30 minutes at 120 km/h then South for 15 minutes at 60 km/h.
a) What is the total displacement of the motorist? b) Find the total distance the motorist takes?
Year 1
(K19)
(K3)
Year 4
(K19)
(K3)
152
(P. 145-156)
It was detected that 47 students gave incorrect answers to the question about the average velocity
both in the 1st and 4th years. 2 students gave correct answers to the same question in the 1st but incor-
rect answers in the 4th year. It occurred that 3 students gave incorrect answers in the 1st but correct
answers in the 4th year. Some of the student answers are below.
Year 1
(E13)
(E16)
Year 4
(E39)
(K23)
153
(P. 145-156)
Discussion
As a result of the study, we found that the university process couldn’t remedy the misconceptions
of pre-service science teachers of study about displacement, distance, average velocity and speed.
The studies implemented in higher education reveal that the misconceptions of university students
still persist even after an education on the subject is given and several applications are performed (Shy-
mansky et al., 1997; Yılmaz et al., 2002). This study aligns with the previous studies and reveals that it
would be more difficult to remedy the misconceptions in university process if they were not remedied
at primary and secondary schools.
The reasons why there are no changes in the misconceptions of the students through university
process are predicted to stem from the following factors:
a) The students can encounter these concepts only in Physics-I and Physics-I lab courses which
are offered in parallel in fall term of the 1st class at university.
b) The lack of a complete scheme of links between the Physics-I Course and the Physics-I
laboratory leads to a disconnection between the course and the lab and hence it becomes
challenging for the students to build a relationship between the theoretical knowledge and
the experiments in the laboratory.
c) Besides, maintaining traditional teaching methods in field courses falls inadequate to remedy
the misconceptions despite the existence of laboratory courses.
Considering the fact that similar misconceptions can be encountered at every stage of schooling
from primary education to university (Kabapınar, 2007), it should not be forgotten that only showing,
telling or writing the correct knowledge would not be very effective in correcting the misconceptions
of students in physics concepts as well as in other science concepts (McDermott,1984). Bayraktar (2009)
investigated in his work the misconceptions of pre-service teachers about force and motion. For this
aim, he used Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Findings of this study showed that the pre-service teachers
commonly had many misconceptions. Indeed, the misconceptions of the students seem to continue
even after traditional education (Kabapınar, 2007)
Therefore, if the instructors of Physics-I course pay more attention to Physics–I laboratory which
was developed parallel to the course content and if they set a relationship with the operational lesson,
they can help remedying the misconceptions. Moreover, in order to remedy the misconceptions about
science education at university:
a) It is necessary to use concept teaching methods (concept maps, concept nets and analogy
etc.) which can be effective to detect the student misconceptions and reinforce subjects
with examples from daily life and,
b) Also it is necessary to support the theoretical courses by giving enough time and chance
for repetition, experiments in the lab, interactive activities, and other interactive resources
(video shows, computer simulations etc.).
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155
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APPENDIX 1
ANSWER SHEET
No Questions Answers
a) Displacement: The difference between the last and the first positions of an
object.
b) Distance: The total length of the route a moving object covers.
Define displacement, distance, average
1 c) Average Velocity: The amount of displacement Δx in a particular time
velocity and speed?
interval Δt.
d) Speed: The rate of total distance covered in a particular time interval to total
time elapsed.
Vector Scalar
Write down the quantities of displacement,
2
distance, average velocity and speed? Displacement Distance
Avg. Velocity Speed
a) What is the total displacement of What is the total distance covered by

the motorist? the motorist?
120 km/h X 0.5 h = 60 km (north) 120 km/h X 0.5 h = 60 km (north)

A motorist rides North for 30 minutes at 120
3 60 km/h X 0.25 = 15 km (south) 60 km/h X 0.25 = 15 km (south)
km/h then South for 15 minutes at 60 km/h.
Δx = X2-X1 Distance covered = X1 + X2
= 15-60 = 60 + 15
= 45 km (north) = 75 km
a) What is the average speed of the a) What is the average velocity of the
person during the entire motion? person during the entire motion?
A person moving along a line walks from
point A to point B with a constant speed of 6
4 Speed==(2.V1XV2 )/ V1+V2 Δx = X2-X1
m/s and then returns from point B to point A
= 2.6.3/6+3 = AB-AB
with a speed of 3 m/s.
= 36 / 9 =0m
= 4 m/s ΔV = 0
Received 12 December 2008; accepted 27 August 2009.
Aykut Emre Assistant Professor, Giresun University, Faculty of Education,

Bozdoğan Department of Primary Education, Giresun, Turkey.
E-mail: aykut.emre.bozdogan@giresun.edu.tr, aykutemre@gmail.com
Website: http://www.giresun.edu.tr
Murat Demirbaş Assistant Professor, Kırıkkale University, Faculty of Education,
Department of Primary Education, Kırıkkale, Turkey.
E-mail: mdemirbas@kku.edu.tr, muratde71@gmail.com
Website: http://www.kku.edu.tr
156
ATTITUDES SCALE
TOWARDS “NANO
TECHNOLOGY” FOR
CHEMISTRY TEACHERS
Abstract. The aim of the study is to

Nilgün Seçken
develop a valid and reliable attitude
scale in order to measure the chemistry
student-Teachers’ attitudes towards nano
technology. During the development
Introduction
phase, a total of twenty-one items that
Communities try to make individuals attain targeted charac- included eleven negative and ten positive
teristics through education. These targeted characteristics are sup- statements about nano technology were
ported by not only school life but also all experiences. Since educa- produced based on experts’ views. These
tion involves interaction, people change their communities as they items were statistically analysed in terms
change through education. Interaction changes knowledge, skills of different aspects. The data obtained
and attitudes. Various characteristics that individuals attain during
through these analyses were analyzed by
this process of change and improvement could affect positively or
negatively the behavioral changing process called learning (Güven using SPSS software. In the study, the scale
and Uzman, 2006). The first of the behaviors that affect the learning was administered to 550 undergarduate
of individuals is the cognitive entry behaviors of the student. Cogni- students. The data obtained was analysed
tive entry behaviors could be explained as the degree of attaining through factor analysis and reliability
prerequisite behaviors according to the targeted characteristics. analysis. At the final stage, the scale was
Another characteristic that affects an individual’s learning is the
found to include four factors with sixteen
affective entry behaviors. A Study indicated that there were proofs
of the effects of affective entry characteristics on students’ achieve- items. After the factor analysis, according
ment and that these characteristics were important factors determin- to Varimax Rotated (rotated Component
ing and affecting achievement Bloom (1979). Many research findings Matrix) results, has been found to be four
supporting Bloom’s view on the importance of affective character- factors and Cronbach-Alpha internal in-
istics in learning (Caine and Caine, 1991; Lackney, 1998) showed that tegrity of the final version of the scale was
individuals do not lose their affective characteristics related to a
found to be 0,859.The article also includes
topic even though they forget their knowledge learnt (Stodolsky et
all., 1991). Among these characteristics, attitudes towards learning suggestions about how this scale can be
come first. It is impossible to observe the attitudes of individuals employed.
directly. Attitudes refer to implicit orientation of individuals towards Key words: nanotechnology, scientific
a certain social objects and have cognitive, affective and behavioral attitude, statistical process scale.
aspects. In other words, individuals have various attitudes in regard
to several objects, ideas and actions. It is the attitudes of individuals
that often determine their reactions to objects, ideas and actions. Nilgün Seçken
Being familiar with the attitudes of individuals allow for making Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey
predictions about their future behavior. On the other hand, the ef-
fects of education on attitudes are quite large and such an effect
appears to vary in relation to educational level. An attitude is a
157
ATTITUDES SCALE TOWARDS “NANO TECHNOLOGY” FOR CHEMISTRY TEACHERS ISSN 1648–3898
(P. 157-171)
psychological construct that is viewed as a significant and critical predictor of individuals’ behavior with
its cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects (Anderson, 1988). Furthermore, attitudes are not visible
behavior, instead are actions that makes ready the individuals for a certain behavior. In this process, indi-
viduals firstly gain some information about an attitude objects and finally transform this information into
behavior (Kağıtçıbaşı, 1988). Measuring attitudes naturally requires the definition of them. In other words,
several dimensions of attitudes should be presented providing their degree and quantity. In terms of
measurement techniques, several dimensions are much more significant than the others. “Direction”,
“degree3 and “intensity” of attitudes are more significant. Direction of attitudes refers to its emotional
quality such like-dislike, and being positive-being negative. Degree of attitudes refers to emotional levels
of accepting or rejecting. Intensity of attitudes refers to the potential of an attitude transforming into an
external behavior as well as its strength in this regard in contrast to other attitudinal areas. The attitude of
an individual affects all his/her behaviors in general including dislikes and likes. It is a part of an individu-
al’s personality (Allport, 1935; Özgüven, 2003). There are many definitions of attitudes today. An attitude
is “emotional readiness or tendency observed within the individuals’ recognizing an individual, a group or
an institution”. Attitudes stem from the beliefs about the object that is the subject of the attitude. Attitudes
and knowledge are always used together. A knowledge that goes with an attitude is called an “opinion”.
Opinions, which are the verbal expressions of the emotions, symbolize the attitudes. A study said that
attitudes could be assessed through the opinions, which are the verbal expressions of the attitudes (Thur-
stone, 1929). The opinion that the behaviors of the individuals are results of their personal attitudes is very
common. Moreover attitudes, which are defined as “the states of emotional and mental readiness, which
are constructed as a result of the experiences and which guide or dynamically affect the behaviors of an
individual towards objects and situations”, have the power of affecting an individual’s learning negatively
or positively (Allport, 1935). A Study defined attitude as appositive or negative sequenced and degreed
density towards a psychological object Thurstone (1967). In a study expressed that attitudes make an
important part of the affective field behaviors and defined it as “the tendency of an individual towards
reacting positively or negatively when faced with a stimulant Oppenheim (1992). The main responsibility
in increasing the productivity and constructing attitudes towards an object or a thought mostly belongs
to the teacher. Teacher tries to share his/her cognitive, affective and psycho-motor characteristics with the
student while presenting teaching experiences. In this sharing process, “affective characteristics may affect
the attainment of other characteristics positively or negatively”. If the effect is positive, the responsibility
of the teacher in the learning and teaching process is facilitated and the targets could be reached at a
shorter time and in a more effective way. In case this affect occurs in the opposite direction, it becomes
more difficult for the teacher to accomplish, s/he may experience problems with his/her student or the
targets could be almost impossible to achieve. In the light of all these, with the aim of aiding the teachers
and the researchers that might study in this field, it was aimed to develop a “nanotechnology attitude
scale” in order to determine the attitudes toward nanotechnology, which is one of the most important
topics of today, as a concept we read at the price tickets in the supermarkets or hear about in the com-
munication sector if we are interested in computers. For seeking the answers to the questions “is it impor-
tant to determine the attitudes of individuals towards nanotechnology?” and “what would its benefits be?”
We should define nanotechnology and explain its interdisciplinary aspects as well as its importance in
chemistry dimension. Today nanotechnology is very much common in speculation science fiction and
popular science. It is also something that is eminently possible, and that may indeed change the world in
a dramatic way, and lead to what is referred to as the Singularity. The word nanotechnology comes from
the Greek prefix nano. In modern scientific parlance, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, about the
diameter of ten atoms placed side by side in a nanometer. Nanotechnology is about building things one
atom at a time, and in doing so constructing devices with unprecedented capabilities. Humans have un-
wittingly employed nanotechnology for thousands of years, for example in making steel, paintings and
in vulcanizing rubber (Indian craftsmen, artisans used nanotech nearly 2000 years ago). Each of nanotech-
nological processes depends on the properties of stochastically-formed atomic assembles mere nanome-
ters in size, and are distinguished from chemistry in that they don’t rely on the properties of individual
molecules. But the development of the body of concepts now subsumed under the term nanotechnology
has been slower. The first mention of some of the distinguishing concepts in nanotechnology (but preda-
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(P. 157-171)
ting use of that name) was in 1867 by James Clerk Maxwell when he proposed as a thought experiment
a tiny entity known as Maxwell’s Demon able to handle individual molecules (Heimann, 1970). The first
observations and size measurements of nano-particles were made during the first decade of the 20th
century. They are mostly associated with Richard Adolf Zsigmondy who made a detailed study of gold sols
and other nanomaterials with sizes down to 10 nm and less (Zsigmondy, 1914). He used ultramicroscope
that employes the dark field method for seeing particles with sizes much less than light wavelength.
Zsigmondy (1914) was also the first who used nanometer explicitly for characterizing particle size. He
determined it as 1/1,000,000 of millimeter. Moreover, he developed the first system classification based
on particle size in the nanometer range. There have been many significant developments during the 20th
century in characterizing nanomaterials and related phenomena, belonging to the field of interface and
colloid science. In the 1920s, Irving Langmuir and Katharine B. Blodgett introduced the concept of a mo-
nolayer, a layer of material one molecule thick. Langmuir won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work. In
the early 1950s, Derjaguin and Abrikosova conducted the first measurement of surface forces (Derjaguin,
1954). Under the umbrella of the term “nanotechnology” an intriguing diversity of formerly distinctive fields
of science and engineering research flourishes, including physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and
biomedical scientists as well as electrical, chemical, and mechanical engineers, such that great hopes exists
of the synergistic effects of interdisciplinarity. You’ll get only part of the story if you just use chemistry to
get at the properties of atoms on the nano level – adding physics and quantum mechanics to the mix
gives you a truer picture of the phenomenon. Chemists, physicists, and medical doctors are working
alongside engineers, biologists, and computer scientists to determine the applications, direction, and
development of nanotechnology – in essence, nanotechnology is many disciplines building upon one
another. Industries such as materials manufacturing, computer manufacturing, and healthcare will all
contribute, meaning that all will benefit – both directly from nanotechnological advances, and indirectly
from advances made by fellow players in the nano field. (Imagine, for example, quantum computers si-
mulating the effectiveness of new nanobased medicines). Nanotechnology will increase your standard of
living – no ifs, ands, or buts. Done right, it will make our lives more secure, improve healthcare delivery,
and optimize our use of limited resources. Pretty basic stuff, in other words. Mankind has spent millennia
trying to fill these needs, because it has always known that these are the things it needs to ensure a futu-
re for itself. If nanotechnological applications pan out the way we think they will pan out, we are one step
closer to ensuring that future. Looking at nanotechnology as an interdisciplinary subject from the perspec-
tive of chemistry, it is observed that modern chemists are interested in nanotechnology because of the
control and kinetics of chemical reactions, chemical reactions’ being directed by smart molecules, control-
ling of biocatalytic events, crystal organization, crystal structure defects and making use of them, surface
chemistry and the research of surface and the development of analysis and control techniques appropri-
ate to these techniques. This has made it an obligation to involve teaching and education activities regard-
ing nanotechnology within the formal chemistry education. As a result, there are many studies on nano-
technology within educational framework (Taylor, et. all, 2008; Jones, et. all, 2007; Jones, et. all, 2003;
Walters, 2008. Today, courses involving nanotechnology are taught at as early as graduate levels in the
USA (Dungey, 2005; http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/index.html; http://www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/nanotech/
interface.html; http://www.nnin.org/nnin_k12teachers.html). Nano-structured materials, nano biotechnol-
ogy, nano particle science and engineering and nano-size productions are among the courses taught at
various universities (http://www.materials.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/degreelist/
course/?code=06741&pg=all; http://sites.google.com/site/ntbtlab/teaching; https://www.bu.edu/meller/
resources.html; http://www.nanoigert.umn.edu. Nano science and nanotechnology has entered our lives
rapidly in many fields (Jones, 2004; http://www.wtec.org/loyola/nano/societalimpact/nanosi.pdf; Bowles,
2004; Tomasko et. all, 2005). This effect starts from communication and information and goes along with
defense industry, space and aircraft technologies, molecular biology and genetics engineering (Lee, 1998;
Sahoo, et. all., 2007; Niosi and Reid, 2007). Countries with nano technology will be more powerful in terms
of welfare, national defense and economy in the future. This opportunity could be used through empow-
ering the expertise as well as promoting education and technological experience that would be transferred
from generation to generation. Construction of the infrastructures of universities and high schools, their
improvement and spreading through legal actions and announcement of the new technology to the
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wider audiences are the major requirements to serve this aim. It is aimed for the university and high school
curriculum to be updated continuously in terms of contents in such a way that they include the latest and
most important techniques. This would not only improve students’ attention and motivation, but also
prepares them for their academic lives or future careers in the industry in a better way (Geoffrey, et. all,
2005). Although there is vast number of graduate study programs as well as journals on nanotechnology,
undergraduate programs on nanotechnology are relatively rare, especially in under developed countries
as well as in developing countries. Students and the community are not informed adequately although
they are curious about it (Waldron and Spencer, 2006). By determining the attitudes of the students at
various levels of formal education, their professional choices could be guided. Although many studies
have been going on in the USA and Europe, curriculum development attempts have not started at some
levels in our country yet. Nanotechnology should be included within the science content. Since nanotech-
nology is the modern technology of our age; as the curricula are developed, by determining the students’
attitudes previously, it should be taken into account how they look at nano technology, what aspects of
it they appreciate, what content of it they found challenging, important or meaningful or what their fears
and hesitations are. It is very difficult to acquire knowledge or make improvement studies on a field with-
out having interest in it (Tekin, 2000). There are various ways to determine the attitudes towards objects
or individuals. Such techniques include prediction using physiological reactions, prediction using ex-
plicit behavior, and development of attitude scales. In the current study, the technique of developing at-
titude scales is chosen because of its cost-effective characteristic. Therefore, the basic aim of the study is
to develop a Likert-type attitude scale towards nanotechnology. Scores obtained through the use of the
developed scale were analyzed in terms of the reliability of the scale and therefore, necessary evidence
was gathered in regard to reliability of the scale. It is hoped that through the use of the attitude scale
developed, individuals’ attitudes towards nanotechnology can be identified and related variables in regard
to positive and negative attitudes towards nanotechnology can be revealed. Since direction and magnitude
of the attitudes towards nanotechnology are influential concerning orientation and interest towards this
field as well as the use of nanotechnology, it is significant to develop valid and reliable measurement tool
to uncover the attitudes towards nanotechnology. Although there are some researches on several dimen-
sions of attitudes using different groups of subjects in the field of nanotechnology, the current study
approaches to the topic from a different angle. For instance, Bainbridge (2002) in his article “Public attitudes
toward nanotechnology” attempts to measure the public perceptions of nanotechnology with the group
of 3909 participants. Scheufele and Lewenstein (2005) employ a national telephone survey to measure
people’s information about and attitudes towards nanotechnology. The findings obtained in these studies
confirm previous research that suggests that people form opinions and attitudes even in the absence of
relevant scientific or policy-related information. Waldron and Spencer, (2006) concludes that “The growing
importance of nanotechnology in industry and society has not been accompanied by a widespread un-
derstanding of the subject among the general public The results suggest that the general public, especi-
ally middle-school children, has no firm foundation to understand nanotechnology and likely will continue
to be equally impressed by credible scientific information as well as pure fictional accounts of nanotech-
nology.
The study has a scanning model. Scanning model is a research approach aiming at describing a
current oe past state of affairs as it is. The study topic that can be either an individual or an object is
described under his/her or its own conditions (Karasar, 2002).
Sampling
During the development of the scale, 550 students participated in the study on voluntarily. The
age of the subjects ranges between 18 and 23. Of them, 198 subjects are males and 350 females. All
participants are undergraduate students attending to chemistry education departments in various
universities. They are randomly selected.
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Development of the assessment tool
In order to develop the attitude scale, the following stages were followed:
• Developing attitude items
• Presenting the items developed to field experts
• Reliability analysis of the scale
• Factor analysis and the finalization of reliability analysis
Results of Research
Developing attitude items
45 individuals out of the sample were asked to write about their feelings, ideas and behavior towards
nanotechnology in the form of essay. Twenty-nine items of the scale were developed based on review of
the related literature as well as factor analysis of the essays. These items reflect cognitive, affective and
behavioral aspects of nanotechnology. During the development of attitude items, the following points
were taken into consideration: items should include desired and undesired features; items should be
explicit and relevant; the number of positive and negative items should be balanced and equal. Items
are ranked randomly in the scale. The scale is a Likert-type scale with five options. The most important
reason for choosing this scale was that the Likert type could give more sensitive results as it is degreed
(Oppenheim, 1996). Five options provided fro each item in the scale are as follows: (5) strongly agree (4)
I agree (3) undecided (2) disagree (1) strongly disagree. Another reason for the Likert-type scale choice
was that the statements involved various types in terms of sentence structures. Moreover, as the scale
was being developed, in order to increase the reliability of the data, more than one statement to assess
a single attitude was written (Frankaenkel, 1996). Next, the statements were evaluated and necessary
corrections were made in order to reach appropriate length, clear meaning, plain language, accurate
grammar and students’ attention levels. As the statements were corrected, it was taken into account that
they did not involve conceptual expressions, carry subjectivity, or have double negativities. The state-
ments of the scale were tried to be expressed in such a way that they did not cause extra meanings and
displayed plain structures. The statements that involved extreme reactions were corrected (Tezbaşaran,
1996). The required duration for the administration of the scale was determined as 25 minutes in order to
avoid the inner reliability to be affected from the time factor (Oppenheim, 1996; Frankaenkel, 1996).
Presenting the items developed to field experts
In order to establish appropriateness of the scale developed to measure the attitudes towards
nanotechnology, items of the scale were reviewed by both Turkish language experts and educational
measurement experts. Items were revised based on the experts’ views and suggestions.
Validity analysis of the scale
Validity refers to “the degree of an assessment tool in terms of measuring the target study topic for
which it has been developed.” The scale was analyzed in terms of both content validity and construct
validity.
Content validity refers to the degree of the whole scale and all items within it serve for the aim for
which the scale has been developed. Expert views are needed to establish the appropriateness of items
for the scale depending on the scale’s representativeness of the related scale (Tyler, 1971; Balcı, 1995).
The alternative is to identify the correlation between previously developed valid and reliable scale and
the newly developed one. Since there is no related previous reliable assessment tool, Pearson moments
correlation was not calculated after the scale was administered to the sample. In order to develop a
valid and reliable assessment tool a draft form of 29 attitude statements was prepared. Before the state-
ments were administered, they were discussed with a group of experts and students about whether
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they reflected attitudes towards nanotechnology. Then the scale was analyzed in terms of its content
validity. The adequacy degrees of these statements, their clarity and preventability were submitted to
expert opinions. It was concluded that the scale of attitudes towards nanotechnology was an appropriate
data collection tool. Some attitude statements were removed from the draft, some were changed some
were added and the scale was finalized as having 21 statements. Therefore, the tool was prepared for
the statistical validity and reliability analysis. A Likert-type scale consists of statements that display the
negative and positive attitudes regarding the attitude of an individual towards a single object. (Köklü,
1992). Therefore, 11 of the statements in the draft were positive and 10 of them were negative attitude
statements. Table 1 displays the scale of attitudes towards nano technology.
Table 1. The Scale of attitudes towards nano technology.

1. It makes me so happy that nano technology will enter my life.
2. I feel happy that money will not be important any more when nano technology will enter our lives.
3. The idea that nano technology allows the substances to be examined at atomic size and everything could
be copied/cloned a million times scares me.
4. Since it is going to make my life easier, I want nano technology to develop and make my life easier as
soon as possible.
5. The idea that work power will lose its importance when nano technology enters our lives worries me.
6. Teaching nano technology at schools makes sense to me.
7. Since everything will be in our hands with nano technology, I am worried that people will not have to take
mental actions in order to achieve things.
8. The idea that nano technology will decrease our motor (physical) activities makes me upset.
9. I want nano technology to enter my life as soon as possible, because; I believe that people will have more
time for each other.
10. I feel happy especially when I think about the developments it has brought and will bring to the field of
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
health.
Undecided
Disagree
Agree
11. I don’t believe that the utilization of nano technology and its facilities would be successful in our country.
12. The idea that its minimal size could cause great pollution and damage in the environment scares me.
13. The idea of what nano technology will bring to or take away from my life makes me feel desperate.
14. Having no idea about the developments in nano technology prevents me from considering what I might
experience.
15. I enjoy following the articles on nano technology in the media.
16. I wish there were more information about the developments in nano technology in media.
17. I wish nano technology education could start at schools as soon as possible.
18. I am worried that individuals who have completed their formal education and did not receive training on
nano technology will not facilitate from nano technological developments adequately.
19. Even the word “Nano” is enough for me to feel happy about this technology.
20. I am worried that the fields of employment for people will decrease in number because of nano technol-
ogy.
21. I feel excited that nano technology is developing in our country and my country is keeping up with the
modern ages.
The structural validity of the scale of attitudes towards nano technology was also analyzed together
with the content validity. Construct validity refers to the account for results and what the results are
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related to. In other words, it indicates at which level the assessment tool can measure an abstract fact
correctly. Structural validity is related to what the assessed characteristic is and has a philosophical di-
mension (Büyüköztürk, 1997). Factor analysis is employed in order to determine the construct validity
of an assessment tool and construct validity is primarily significant in psychological tests. Factor analysis
is the strongest method in analyzing the structural validity. In order to test the structural validity of the
tool by looking whether it assessed a single concept related to nano technology, the principle compo-
nents analysis was administered as a factor analysis technique. Factor analysis is administered in order
to turn the related data structures into new independent data structures less in number (Kleimbaum
et.all., 1998). It is a technique that is applied to group the variables and define major and minor factors
by classifying an existence, its reasons, and the default variables it explains. It is a method that is similar
to main component analysis. In both techniques, there is data reduction. However, in factor analysis,
common factors could be defined by grouping the variables. Factor analysis has two aims;
• Reducing the number of variables,
• Creating some new structures by using the relationships between the variables.
This second criteria is applied in order to combine the variables under a single factor by classify-
ing them, and create new explanatory factor structures. Factor analysis aims to identify random factors
that could not be observed at the p variable at observable and interrelated X data matrix, but could
be created by combining the variables. These new variables derived are called factors (Özdamar, 1999).
When deciding upon a statement to take part in the scale, the condition was that the factor loading
of a statement should be 0.45 or higher. In the literature, the statements are expected to have high
factor loads (0.45 or higher), however, scales could involve statements with a factor loading over 0.30
(Kerlinger, 1973), (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1989). Moreover, the difference between a statement’s loading
value through a factor and the loading values it takes from the other factors should be 0.10 or higher.
Therefore, the independence between the factors were tried to be increased (Büyüköztürk, 1997),
(Karaman, 2000). For the validity analysis of the scale of attitude towards nanotechnology, firstly, the
data obtained from the administration of the assessment tool were applied factor analysis. “Principle
components analysis” as a factor analysis technique was administered for testing the validity of the in-
strument. According to a study data obtained from 200 sampling was adequate (Tabachnic and Fidell,
1989 Furthermore, data obtained may not be proper for factor analysis. In order to determine whether
or not data obtained are proper for factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test is recommended for
use (Kline, 1994; Tabachnick and Fidell, 1989; Tavşancıl, 2002; Afacan and Aydoğdu, 2006). The values of
KMO are concerned with appropriateness of the correlation between sample and items of the assess-
ment tool. The values of KMO should be higher than 0, 60 to have proper data set for the use of them
in factor analysis (Kaiser, 1974).
Factor analysis
There are for basic steps in factor analysis. These are; evaluation of the data set fro the factor analysis,
obtaining the data, rotation of the factors and naming of the factors (Kalaycı, 2006).
Two methods were applied in order to evaluate whether the data set was appropriate for the fac-
tor analysis. These were;
a. Bartlett,
b. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) tests.
a) Bartlett test of Sphericity:

It tests the possibility of high correlations between at least some of the variables in the cor-
relation matrix. In order to continue the analysis, the zero hypotheses that “correlation matrix
is the unit matrix” must be rejected. If the zero hypotheses are rejected, this shows that the
data set is appropriate for the factor analysis since there are high correlations between the
variables (Hair et.all., 1998).
b) Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) sampling adequacy criterion:
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Tavşancıl (2002) states that Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test should be employed to determine
whether or not data obtained are proper for factor analysis, The values of KMO are concerned
with appropriateness of the correlation between sample and items of the assessment tool
(Kaiser, 1974). It is an index that compares the values of the observed correlation coefficients
to the values of the partial correlation coefficients. KMO ratio should be more than 0.5. The
higher the ratio is, the more appropriate the data set is for the factor analysis (Sharma, 1996).
Table 2 shows the results of the KMO and Bartlett tests employed to determine the appropri-
ateness of the data gathered in the study.
Table 2. KMO and Bartlett’s test results.

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. ,734
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 3352,15
df 120
Sig. ,000
Table 2 indicates that the scale of attitudes towards nanotechnology developed in the study has
a KMO value of 0,734 and a Bartlett value of 3352, 15 and that it is statistically significant (sig.: 0, 00).
These values are quite high. Kaise points out that the value of 0, 90 and higher values are perfect ones
(Rivera and Ganaden, 2001). These results clearly show that data can be used for factor analysis and
that the correlation among the items of the scale developed is high. Therefore, it is safe to argue that
the attitude scale developed is nearly perfect. As stated earlier, the value of Bartlett test is found to be
3352, 15 (p<0.01). Bartlett Test specifically tests the hypothesis that “correlation matrice is equal to unit
matrice.” Rejection of this hypothesis means that correlation among variables is higher than 1.00 and
that this correlation is a result of multi-variable normal distribution (Norussis, 1995).
Determination of the number of factors
Based on the analysis results, those items with facyot loading 0, 45 or more are included in the related
factor. Data obtained from component matrix indicate that two items on the first and third factors have
factor loadings with the difference more than 0,1 and that ninth, tenth, sixth, twentieth and twenty first
items are excluded since all items lead to a factor loading lower than 0,45. Thus, analysis is continued
with sixteen items. Data analysed through varimax rotated principle component analysis indicate that
four factors that cannot be described through unrotated constituents analysis can be described using
this analysis. Table 3 provides the numbers of factors based on the Eigen Value Statistics as well as the
rate of the variance that can be accounted for.
Table 3. The number of factors depending on the eigen value statistics and the percentage of the
variance explained.
Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Component
Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
1 5,19 32.49 32.49 2,62 16.38 16.38

2 1,72 10.77 43.26 2,45 15.29 31.68
3 1,49 9.31 52.57 2,34 14.61 46.29
4 1,17 7.32 59.89 2,18 13.60 59.89
5 ,94 5.84 65.74
6 ,87 5.46 71.19
7 ,72 4.48 75.68
8 ,67 4.18 79.86
9 ,60 3.76 83.62
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Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Component
Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %
10 ,58 3.59 87.22

11 ,55 3.43 90.66
12 ,44 2.77 93.42
13 ,37 2.31 95.73
14 ,29 1.86 97.59
15 ,21 1.33 98.92
16 ,17 1.07 100.00
Table 3 indicates that sixteen items that were analysed are grouped under four factors with the real
value of more than one. All these four factor accounts for 59.89 % of to variance. Since the reasonable
level is stated to be 41 % (Kline, 1994), the rate of variance explained by four factors can be regarded
as efficient to form a scale. Additionally, it is seen that these four factors accounts for the majority of
total variance. As seen in Table 4, common variance (communalities) of four factors appears to range
between 0, 46 and 0, 76. On the other hand, in order to determine the number of factors, their scree
graph was also analysed.
Figure 1. Line graph of factor analysis.
Scree graph given in figure 1 show that there is a high decrease after the first factor. It may indicate
that the attitude scale is composed of only one factor. Büyüköztürk (2003) argues that sharp decreases
in graphs provide the number of factors. The related graph indicates that the items are grouped under
four factors with the real value of more than one.
Common variance of the variables
Communality refers to the amount of variance shared by variables in the analysis (Hair et. all., 1998).
It is possible to exclude those variables with lower levels of common variance in the factor analysis and
then, to repeat the factor analysis. Therefore, both KMO and statistics of variance value may have higher
values. If the value of communality is found to be higher than one, either data set is very small or a few
factors are determined. Table 4 below provides the values communality found in the analysis.
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Table 4. Common variance table.
Initial Extraction Initial Extraction
S1 1,000 ,73 S11 1,000 ,59

S2 1,000 ,51 S12 1,000 ,47
S3 1,000 ,63 S13 1,000 ,67
S4 1,000 ,60 S14 1,000 ,61
S5 1,000 ,62 S15 1,000 ,55
S6 1,000 ,63 S17 1,000 ,62
S7 1,000 ,46 S18 1,000 ,51
S8 1,000 ,61 S19 1,000 ,79
Looking at Table 4, it is observed that the 7th variables (0, 46) have the lowest common variance
whereas the 19th variables (0, 76) have the highest.
Rotation step
Rotation was made in order to obtain significant factors and the Rotated Component matrix results
are given in Table 5. It is the final result of factor analysis. In the matrix, original variable and the cor-
relation among its factors are seen. The highest value as an absolute value that any variable has under
any factor indicates that that variable is closely related to that factor. For the number of observation
that is 350 or more, the factor load should be 0, 30 or more. If that value is 0, 50 or more, it is regarded
as quite well (Hair vd, 1998). The value found in the study is 0, 47 and more indicating that these values
are under reasonable category.
Table 5. Rotated component matrix results.
Component
1 2 3 4
S6 ,75
S5 ,68
S2 ,59
S13 ,56
S7 ,47
S14 ,77
S19 ,67
S15 ,65
S11 ,57
S12 ,48
S8 ,78
S1 ,77
S4 ,73
S17 ,74
S18 ,68
S3 ,65
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Looking at Table 5, it is observed that there are 5 statements under the first factor, 5 statements
under the 2nd factor, 3 statements under the 3rd factor and 3 statements under the 4th factor.
The first factor; the first factor forms 16, 38 % of total variance. It includes five attitude items with
loadings ranging between 0, 75 and 0, 47.
2. I feel happy that money will not be important any more when nano technology will enter
our lives.
5. The idea that work power will lose its importance when nano technology enters our lives
worries me.
6. Teaching nano technology at schools makes sense to me.
7. Since everything will be in our hands with nano technology, I am worried that people will
not have to take mental actions in order to achieve things.
13. The idea of what nano technology will bring to or take away from my life makes me feel
desperate.
Items in the first factor deal with material and spiritual concerns regarding nano technology and
also with the anxiety resulting from the fact that nano technology will decrease the significance of
labour. Only the sixth item in this factor is concerned with the education on nano technology which
has also relevance for labour.
The second factor; the second factor constitutes 15. 29 % of total variance. It is made up of five at-
titude items with loadings ranging between 0, 77 and 0, 48.
11. I don’t believe that the utilization of nano technology and its facilities would be successful
in our country.
12. The idea that its minimal size could cause great pollution and damage in the environment
scares me.
14. Having no idea about the developments in nano technology prevents me from consider-
ing what I might experience.
15. I enjoy following the articles on nano technology in the media.
19. Even the word “Nano” is enough for me to feel happy about this technology.
Items in the second factor are concerned with positive and negative attitudes about advances
in nano technology and their reflections in daily life.
The third factor; the third factor forms 14. 61 % of total variance. It includes three items with load-
ings ranging between 0, 78 and 0, 73.
1. It makes me so happy that nano technology will enter my life.
4. Since it is going to make my life easier, I want nano technology to develop and make my
life easier as soon as possible.
8. The idea that nano technology will decrease our motor (physical) activities makes me
upset.
The third factor includes items dealing with positive and negative attitudes concerning the
capability of nano technology to make the life of people easier.
The fourth factor; the fourth factor forms 13. 60 % of the total variance. It contains three attitude
items with loadings ranging between 0, 74 and 0, 65.
3. The idea that nano technology allows the substances to be examined at atomic size and
everything could be copied/cloned a million times scares me.
17. I wish nano technology education could start at schools as soon as possible.
18. I am worried that individuals who have completed their formal education and did not
receive training on nano technology will not facilitate from nano technological developments
adequately.
Items included in the fourth factor deal with the attitudes towards the place of nano technology
within educational context. Four factors of the scale contain items in regard to attitudes towards the
following aspects of nano technology: labour, anxiety, life and educational context.
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Findings related to the reliability analysis of the assessment tool
The Cronbach Alpha formula was administered for the reliability analysis. In order to distinguish
the positive and negative attitudes, each statement was analyzed by its distinguishing (substance total
correlations). The alpha inner consistency coefficient of the scale of attitudes towards nanotechnology
calculated for 16 statements was found to be 0.86. On the other hand, the statement-total correlations
calculated for the distinctiveness of the 16 statements in the scale and their statement reliability changed
between .34 and .57 and was statistically significant.
Discussion
In this study, the scale of attitudes towards nanotechnology was prepared in order to assess the
attitudes of the individuals. According to the findings of the study, the scale was qualified in assess-
ing the attitudes of the individuals towards the utilization of nanotechnology. The scale of attitudes
towards nanotechnology was a 16-statement assessment tool with 4 factors prepared according to the
5-point Likert-type scaling. The statements in the first factor reflected the “financial and psychological
dimensions” of the utilization of nanotechnology; the statements in the second factor referred to the
“developments in nantotechnology and their effects; indiated attitudes towards “life”, the statements
in the third factor involved the attitudes towards the statements “life help of nano technology”; and
in the fourth factor involved the attitudes towards “nanotechnoogy in education and teaching” as
statements to assess attitudes. The statements’ factor loading values being greater than .40 and the
variance explained by 4 factors reaching up to 59, 89 % showed that the scale could be explained
through 4 factors. The inner consistency coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0, 85, and this value
was taken adequate for the reliability. Using this scale of 16 statements to determine the affective field
characteristics of the individuals towards nanotechnology, modifications could be made in the program
development studies of elementary and high schools as well as universities. After the preparation of
the curricula and the initiation of their administration, teachers could determine the students’ attitudes
towards nanotechnology in their classes and take the opportunity to improve the positive ones or turn
the negative ones into positive.
Conclusions
The instrument could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to influence
positively student attitude towards nano technology. In this study, a scale with four factors in which
sixteen statements are employed has been developed to measure the attitudes of chemistry student-
teachers towards nano technology. As stated by Erden (1995), in order to make positive changes in the
attitudes of students the factors leading to the formation and development of the attitudes should
be revealed. The findings obtained in the study “Attitude scale towards nano technology” that is both
reliable and valid measurement tool can be employed to determine the relationship between chemistry
student-teachers’ attitudes towards nano technology and certain variances. Having positive attitudes
towards nano technology on the part of chemistry student-teachers will certainly affect their future
teaching about nano technology assisting to transferring more appropriate attitudes to their future
students. Knowledge about indivduals’ attitudes towards nano technology which is one of the significant
topicsa in our time will certainly help to carry out studies that attempt to integrate the topic of nano
technology into educational programs in a way that meets the needs of them and is both meaningful
and interesting. Given that statements within the first dimension of the scale that are concerned with the
negative thoughts about replacement of labour by nano technological activities will reveal the concerns
of the student-teachers, necessary steps van be taken through the educational programs in which nano
technology is included or course outlines. Statements about positive and negative attitudes towards
the place of nano technology in everyday life will reveal negative attitudes so that the reasons for such
attitudes can be examined and then, necessary steps can be taken to eliminate them or to transform
such attitudes into positive ones. The items of the third factor in the scale are concerned with the positive
168
(P. 157-171)
and negative attitudes towards capacity of nano technology in regard to make everyday life easy. For
instance, the eighth item is related to negative attitudes. It may help to uncover negative attitudes as
well as to eliminate them. The fourth dimension is generally concerned with the relationship between
nano technology and education. For instance, the eighteenth item is about the fact that those who
completed their formal education process will not have information about nano technology. Therefore,
data obtained through this item may help to formulate informal educational activities in order to make
such people more informed about nano technology.
It is important that the scale developed should be further analysed in terms of its validity and
reliability on the sample of other chemistry student-teachers and of other different groups with similar
characteristics. The findings of such research should be compared in order to get more information
about the validity and reliability of the scale.
Given the detailed nature of the instrument, the Nano Technology Attitudes Scale could also be
used to examine differences in students’ attitude towards nano technology in terms of gender, ethnicity,
and social class. Finally, the Nano Technology Attitudes Scale could be easily adapted for other disciplines
including biology, physics and the other sciences. The instrument would require revalidation—using
the techniques we have described above—for any of these administrations.
Since attitude is an entity that make people ready for any behaviour, just measuring the attitudes
of chemistry student-teachers towards nano technology cannot provide any information about the fact
that whether or not such attitudes are transformed into behaviour. Although the attitudes are found
to be positive, it is necessary to establish that such attitudes are transformed into behaviour. Therefore,
other scales are needed to obtain information about whether or not such attitutdes are transformed
into behaviour.
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Received 29 March 2009; accepted 03 September 2009.
Nilgün Seçken Assist. Prof. Dr. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education,

Hacettepe University, 06800 Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey.
Phone: 00903122976746
E-mail: nsecken@gmail.com
Website: http://www.hun.edu.tr/english/index.php
171
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’
ATTITUDE TOWARDS
GRAPHS
Abstract. This study examined Frackson Mumba,

pre-service elementary education Erin Wilson,
teachers’ attitude towards graphs. Vivien M. Chabalengula,
Attitude was defined in terms of
William Mejia, & Simeon Mbewe
six aspects: Effort, Value, Cognitive
competency, Affect, Difficulty and
Interest. Data was collected through
a questionnaire. Pre-service teachers
felt they had cognitive competence Introduction
for graphing, valued graphs and ex-
pressed affection for graphs regard- Research studies show that teachers have graphing difficulties
less of their perceived difficulties and and misconceptions such as static confusion between slope versus
low interest in graphs. Value was the height (Ritter & Coleman, 1995), failure to identify variables (Bowen &
only aspect that correlated with all Roth, 2005), failure to determine linearity of scale and positioning the
other five aspects, in particular with
zero point or axis (Ritter & Coleman, 1995), and failure to distinguish
a bar graph from histogram (Roth, McGinn & Bowen, 1998). Although
Affect. Surprisingly, the number of
several studies have examined teachers’ graphing difficulties and
mathematics courses taken by pre-
misconceptions, no study has examined elementary education
service teachers did not make any
pre-service teachers’ attitude towards graphs. Yet, research shows
difference in their attitude towards that attitudes affect teachers’ instructional practice and that positive
graphs. However, the number of sci- attitude among teachers leads to good learning and subsequently
ence courses they took in high school to better teaching in schools (Cantrell, Young & Moore, 2003). Re-
made a difference in their attitude search also shows that attitude has a significant influence on an
towards graphs. These findings have individual’s desire to learn a particular course or topic (Germann,
implications for teacher education 1988). Accordingly, elementary education pre-service teachers’
and mathematics and science teach- willingness to learn more about graphing may depend on their at-
ing and learning. titude towards graphs. Young (1998) also argued that if pre-service
Key words: attitude, teacher, graph,
teachers’ attitude towards a course or topic are important then it
is essential to know what those attitudes are if changes are to be
cognitive competence, affect and
made in the course. As such, the interest towards the attitudes that
value.
pre-service teachers bring into our teacher education mathemat-
ics and science methods courses is increasing among our faculty,
since attitude can impede learning or hinder the extent to which
our pre-service teachers develop useful skills such as graphing skills
and their feelings towards graphs. We also believe that pre-service
Frackson Mumba, Erin Wilson, Vivien teachers’ negative attitudes can impede their appreciation of the
M. Chabalengula, William Mejia, value of graphs professionally, personally, and for their students. In
& Simeon Mbewe view of this, more attention to elementary education pre-service
Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA teachers’ attitudes towards graphs is warranted, as it may contribute
to better mathematics and science teaching and learning in schools.
172
ISSN 1648–3898 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS GRAPHS
(P. 172-181)
Therefore, this study examined elementary education pre-service teachers’ attitude towards graphs. The
term attitude is a complex construct and may be determined by examining cognitive and affective aspects.
The cognitive aspect is a set of knowledge while the affect aspect relates to feelings towards something.
Gogolin and Swartz (1992) asserted that total attitude is made up of many factors in which the attitude
may be negative or positive. As a result, attitude in this study was defined in terms of six aspects: Effort,
Value, Affect, Cognitive competence, Interest and Difficulty. Effort: how hard one works to learn about graphs;
Value: appreciation of graph usefulness and relevance of graphs in personal and professional life; Affect:
positive and negative feelings concerning graphs; Cognitive competence: perception of self-competence,
knowledge and intellectual skills when applied to graphs; Interest: how much one is attracted to graphs;
and Difficulty: perceived difficulty of graphing as a topic.
Three research questions guided this study: (a) What are the levels of attitude towards graphs among
pre-service teachers with respect to the six aspects of attitude as stated above? (b) What are the relation-
ships among the six aspects of attitude towards graphs? (c) How do pre-service teachers’ attitude towards
graphs differ with regard to concentration areas (Mathematics, Science, English, Social Science, Special
Education and Others) and the number of mathematics and science courses taken?
This study has significant implications for teacher education and the teaching and learning of science
and mathematics. For example, the findings presented here are important to those who are involved in
mathematics and science teacher education programs as they strive to improve graphing skills among
teachers. It is also assumed that attention directed towards identifying pre-service teachers attitude to-
wards graphs and subsequent improvement on their attitude towards graphs will have a profound effect
on their application of teaching graphs in schools. This study also contributes to existing literature on
graphing with regard to teachers.
A sample comprised 128 elementary education pre-service teachers at a research University in the
Midwest of the USA. There were 111 females and 17 males. Pre-service teachers were in six concentra-
tion areas of elementary education degree program (Mathematics=17, Science=18, English=26, Social
sciences=39, Special Education=12 and Others =16). The ‘Others’ category comprised Music, Foreign
Language, Art, and Physical Education concentration areas. The age of the pre-service teachers ranged
from 20 to 30 years. At the time of data collection pre-service teachers were enrolled in six sections of two
science methods courses.
Data was collected through a 40-item Likert-scale questionnaire. The items were adopted from
Survey of Attitudes Towards Statistics (STATS) (Dauphinee, Schau & Stevens, 1997). The first section of the
questionnaire had items on demographic information such as gender, degree concentration areas, and
math and science courses taken at high school and college levels. The second section had statements on
the six attitude aspects: Effort, Value, Cognitive competence, Affect, Difficulty, and Interest. Each statement
was valued in Likert-scale format, ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates “Strongly Disagree” and 5 indicates
“Strongly Agree”.
Data was analyzed by computing descriptive statistics, correlations among the six aspects of attitude,
and reliability values for the instrument and individual attitude aspects. One Way ANOVA and t-tests were
performed to investigate differences among sub-groups on each of the six aspects of attitude.
Results of Research
Reliability values
The reliability value for the questionnaire was 0.91. The reliability values for the six attitude aspects
ranged from low to high: Difficulty (0.26), Effort (0.37), Cognitive Competence (0.75), Interest (0.76), Value
(0.78), and Affect (0.83). Although reliability values for Effort and Difficulty aspects of attitude were low,
most reliability values were high enough to indicate some internal consistency in each attitude aspect
section and the questionnaire.
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ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS GRAPHS ISSN 1648–3898
(P. 172-181)
Levels of attitude towards graphs
Effort: Table 1 below shows that pre-service elementary teachers said they strive to complete graph
assignments (Mean = 4.63; SD =0.52), work hard on questions that involve graphing in their courses
(Mean=4.25; SD = 0.66), and would like to help other students learn about graphs (M = 4.05; SD =0.77).
However, they were indifferent on the proposition that learning graphs requires a great deal of discipline
by a learner (M = 2.99; SD = 0.88). In addition, most pre-service teachers seemed to disagree that they
study hard to understand graphs (M = 2.41; SD = 0.97).
Table 1. Means on effort aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
E1. I complete all my graph assignments. 4.63 0.52

E2. I work hard on questions that involve making or reading graphs in my courses. 4.25 0.66
E14. I study very hard to understand graphs. 2.41 0.97
E24. Learning graphs requires a great deal of discipline by a student. 2.99 0.88
E27. I attend all lessons including those that involve graphs. 3.93 0.87
*E38. I would not like help other students learn to make graphs. 4.05 0.77
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; E stands for Effort;
Value: Table 2 below shows that pre-service teachers expressed neutral to positive views on the
value of graphs. In particular, they viewed graphs as valuable in understanding today’s world (M =
4.32; SD = 0.74), useful in their future teaching career (M = 4.25; SD = 0.75), and somehow relevant and
applicable in their lives (M = 3.96; SD = 0.81), though they felt conclusions from graphs are rarely pre-
sented in everyday life (M = 3.67; SD = 0.86). They also seemed to have moderate but relatively positive
view on the proposition that graphing skills will make them more effective teachers (M = 3.85; SD =
0.86). However, they were less enthusiastic about graphing being a required part of elementary teacher
education program (M = 3.7; SD = 0.99).
Table 2. Means on value aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
*V7. Graphs are worthless in understanding today’s World 4.32 0.74

V9. Graphing should be a required part of Elementary teacher education program. 3.70 0.99
V10. Graphing skills will make me a more effective teacher in school. 3.85 0.86
*V13. Graphs are not useful in my future job/career. 4.12 0.85
*V16. Graphs are not applicable in my life outside my teacher education training program. 3.89 0.77
V17. I use graph skills in my everyday life. 2.90 1.02
V21. Conclusions from graphs are rarely presented in everyday life. 3.67 0.86
*V25. I will have no use for graph skills in my teaching job. 4.25 0.75
*V33. Graphs are irrelevant in my life. 3.96 0.81
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; V stands for Value
Cognitive competence: In general, most items on this aspect of attitude received positive views
from pre-service teachers as shown in Table 3 below. For example, pre-service teachers reported they
had ideas about graphs (M = 4.56; SD = 0.73), knew how to make (M = 4.02; SD = 0.69) and read graphs
(M = 4.05; SD = 0.61), did not make a lot of errors when working on graphs (M = 4.06; SD = 0.68) and
they had no trouble understanding graphs (M = 4.19; SD = 0.77). However, they disagreed with the
proposition that most individuals have to learn a new way of thinking in order to make or read graphs
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(P. 172-181)
(M = 2.85; SD = 0.82).
Table 3. Means on cognitive competence aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
*C5. I have trouble understanding graphs 4.19 0.77

*C11. I have no idea about graphs. 4.56 0.73
*C26. I make a lot of errors when I work on graphs. 4.06 0.68
C31. I easily learn how to read graphs. 3.98 0.72
C32. I know the rules for making graphs. 4.05 0.61
C36. Most students have to learn a new way of thinking in order to make or read graphs. 2.85 0.82
C39. I know how to read graphs very well. 4.02 0.69
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; C stands for Cognitive competence
Affect: In general, pre-service teachers expressed high affection towards graphs. For example, Table
4 shows that pre-service teachers were not scared of graphs (M = 4.54; SD = 0.61) and did not indicate
that graphs made them nervous (M = 4.14; SD = 0.85), stressed or frustrated (M = 4.12 SD = 0.81). They
also liked anything about graphs (M =3.99; SD = 0.83). However, pre-service teachers expressed very
low enjoyment for taking courses that have a lot of graphs (M = 2.78; SD = 0.86).
Table 4. Means on affect aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
A3. I like graphs. 3.75 0.89

*A4. I become nervous when I have to do graphs 4.14 0.85
*A15. I get frustrated when we go over graphs in class 3.96 0.99
*A18. I feel stressed working with graphs in my courses. 4.12 0.81
A19. I enjoy taking courses that have a lot of graphs. 2.78 0.86
*A28. I am scared of graphs 4.54 0.61
*A37. I don’t like anything about graphs. 3.99 0.83
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; A stands for Affect
Difficulty: Table 5 below shows that pre-service teachers did not view graphs as very difficult to
understand (M = 4.15; SD = 0.68). In addition, they viewed graphing as easy for them (M = 3.91; SD =
0.79) and not as a complicated process (M = 3.63; SD = 0.90). They also strongly viewed graphing as a
highly technical process (M = 2.64; SD = 0.87) and difficult for individuals to gain graphing skills quickly
(M = 2.75; SD = 0.84).
Table 5. Means on difficulty aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
D6. Graphs are very easy for me. 3.91 0.79

*D8. Graphing is a complicated process. 3.63 0.90
D22. Graphing skills are quickly learned by most students. 2.75 0.84
*D34. Graphing is a highly technical process. 2.64 0.87
*D35. I find it difficult to understand graphs. 4.15 0.68
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; D stands for Difficult
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(P. 172-181)
Interest: Table 6 shows that pre-service teachers’ interest in graphs ranged from low to moderate.
Although they had moderate interest in understanding information presented in graphs (M = 3.39; SD
= 0.78) they expressed very low interest in talking about graphs to other people
(M = 2.48; SD = 0.98) and using graphs in their everyday lives (M =2.67; SD = 0.88). Furthermore,
they had indifferent view on learning about graphs (M = 3.29; SD = 0.87).
Table 6. Means on interest aspect of attitude.
Items Mean SD
*I12. I am not interested in talking about graphs to other people 2.48 0.98
I20. I am very interested in using graphs in my everyday life. 2.67 0.88
I23. I am interested in understanding information presented in graphs 3.39 0.78
*I29. I am not interested in learning about graphs. 3.29 0.87
N= 128; *Negatively worded items & scored in reverse; I stands for Interest
Comparisons among concentration areas
In general, Cognitive competence aspect of attitude received the highest mean score (3.96) followed
by Affect (3.90), Value (3.85) and Effort (3.71) as shown in Table 7 below. On the other hand Difficulty
(3.42) and Interest (2.96) received moderate mean scores among pre-service teachers. This implies that
pre-service teachers recognized the value of graphs regardless of any perceived difficulties and moder-
ately low interest in graphs. Table 7 also shows similar trends of mean scores for six aspects of attitude
among the sub-groups. However, English and Social sciences sub-groups expressed the lowest interest
in graphs than the other sub-groups. Surprisingly, the pre-service teachers in science concentration area
(M= 3.34; SD = 0.5) were slightly more interested in graphs than those in mathematics concentration
area (M= 2.99; SD = 0.3).
Table 7. Comparisons among concentration areas.
Concentration areas for Elementary Education Degree (Sub-groups)
Social Sci- Special

Sample Science Math English Others
ence Education
(N=128) N= 18 N= 17 N= 26 N= 16
N= 39 N= 12
Aspect Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) F (5,122) Sig
Effort 3.71(0.8) 3.72(1.1) 3.86(0.8) 3.60(0.9) 3.67(0.8) 3.77(0.8) 3.77(0.7) 1.166 0.330
Value 3.85(0.4) 3.98(0.4) 4.02(0.4) 3.74(0.4) 3.69(0.4) 3.92(0.4) 3.93(0.5) 1.671 0.147
Cog. C 3.96(0.5) 4.27(0.6) 4.06(0.5) 3.75(0.5) 3.87(0.5) 4.02(0.7) 3.84(0.5) 3.930 0.002*
Affect 3.90(0.5) 4.33(0.4) 3.96(0.5) 3.55(0.6) 3.77(0.6) 4.00(0.6) 3.74(0.5) 4.423 0.001*
Difficulty 3.42(07) 3.69(0.7) 3.35(0.8) 3.20(0.4) 3.37(0.6) 3.63(0.7) 3.24(0.7) 4.986 0.000*
Interest 2.96(0.5) 3.34(0.5) 2.99(0.3) 2.65(0.5) 2.81(0.5) 3.12(0.4) 2.97(0.5) 2.028 0.079
*Significant at P<0.05
As shown in Table 7 above, One Way ANOVA revealed significant differences among sub-groups
on three aspects of attitude towards graphs: Cognitive competence [ F( 5,122)= 3.930, p<.05]; Affect
[F(5,122)= 4.423, p<.05] and Difficulty [ F(5,122)= 4.986, p<.05]. On the other hand, there were no sig-
nificant differences among sub-groups on the other three aspects of attitude: Effort [F (5,122) = 1.166,
p>.05]; Value [F (5,122) = 1.671, P>.05], Interest [F (5, 122) = 2.028, p>.05]. Posthoc Tukey comparison
tests showed that the significant differences on Cognitive competence and Affect aspects of attitude
was among Mathematics, English and Social Sciences sub-groups while the significant difference on
176
(P. 172-181)
Difficulty was among Mathematics, English and Others sub-groups. Surprisingly, Posthoc Tukey com-
parison tests showed no significant differences between Special Education and Mathematics sub-groups
on Difficulty, Cognitive competence, and Affect aspects of attitude.
Comparing math and science courses taken
Table 8 below shows insignificant differences between pre-service teachers who had taken four
or less college mathematics courses and those that had taken more than four college mathematics
courses.
Table 8. Comparing between college math courses taken.
College Math Courses Taken
1-4 courses 5 or more courses t Sig.

N=51 N= 62
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Effort 22.3 (2.2) 22.3 (2.5) 0.037 0.971
Value 34.5 (4.8) 34.8 (4.5) 0.424 0.673
Cog. C. 27.5 (3.1) 27.8 (3.4) 0.471 0.639
Affect 27.1 (3.7) 27.4 (4.5) 0.513 0.607
Difficulty 16.8 (1.9) 17.3 (2.5) 1.315 0.191
Interest 11.6 (2.5) 11.9 (2.9) 0.542 0.589
*Significant at P<0.05; N= number of participants
Table 9 shows that there was a significant difference on cognitive competence aspect of attitude
between pre-service teachers who had taken four or less college science courses and those that had
taken five or more science courses. However, there were no significant differences between the two
sub-groups on the other five aspects of attitude.
Table 9. Comparing between college science courses taken.
College Science Courses Taken

N= 51 N= 59
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Effort 22.0 (2.3) 22.5 (2.4) 1.170 0.245

Value 34.2 (4.5) 34.9 (4.8) 0.754 0.427
Cog. C. 26.9 (3.5) 28.4 (2.9) 2.481 0.015*
Affect 26.6 (4.5) 27.8 (3.9) 1.580 0.117
Difficulty 16.8 (2.4) 17.3 (1.7) 1.379 0.171
Interest 11.6 (2.4) 11.8 (3.0) 0.459 0.647
As shown in Table 10 below, there was no significant difference between pre-service teachers
who had taken four or less high school mathematics courses and those that had taken five or more
mathematics courses at high school on all the six aspects of attitude.
177
(P. 172-181)
Table 10. Comparing between high school math courses taken.
High School Math Courses Taken

N= 41 N= 72
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Effort 22.2 (2.4) 22.3 (2.3) 0.323 0.747

Value 34.0 (5.2 35.0 (4.2) 1.181 0.240
Cog. C. 27.1 (2.9) 28.1 (3.4) 1.518 0.132
Affect 26.8 (4.3) 27.6 (4.1) 1.011 0.314
Difficulty 17.2 (1.9) 17.0 (2.2) 0.443 0.658
Interest 11.3 (2.9) 12.0 (2.6) 1.315 0.191
Table 11 shows significant differences between pre-service teachers who had taken four or less
high school science courses and those that had taken five or more science courses on four aspects of
attitude: Value, Cognitive competence, Affect and Interest. On the other hand there were no significant
differences between the two sub-groups on effort and difficulty aspects of attitude.
Table 11. Comparing between high school science courses taken.
High School Science Courses Taken

N= 46 N= 67
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Effort 22.2 (2.2) 22.3 (2.5) 0.343 0.733

Value 33.0 (4.1) 35.8 (4.6) 3.385 0.001*
Cog. C. 26.8 (2.8) 28.3 (3.4) 2.383 0.019*
Affect 25.9 (4.1) 28.2 (4.0) 2.986 0.003*
Difficulty 16.7 (2.0) 17.3 (2.2) 1.493 0.138
Interest 10.9 (2.9) 12.4 (2.4) 2.991 0.003*
Table 12 shows a significant difference between juniors and seniors on the cognitive aspect of
attitude. On the other hand, the differences between the two sub-groups on other five aspects of at-
titude were insignificant.
Table 12. Comparison among juniors and seniors.
College Standing
Junior Senior t Sig.

N = 22 N = 91
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Effort 21.5 (2.4) 22.5 (2.3) 1.869 0.064

Value 33.7 (3.2) 34.9 (4.9) 1.068 0.288
178
(P. 172-181)
College Standing
Junior Senior t Sig.

N = 22 N = 91
Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Cog. C. 26.3 (2.7) 28.0 (3.3) 2.172 0.032*

Affect 26.8 (3.1) 27.4 (4.4) 0.590 0.556
Difficulty 16.7 (2.3) 17.1 (2.1) 0.893 0.374
Interest 11.7 (2.3) 11.8 (2.8) 0.169 0.866
Relationships among aspects of attitude
The relationships among the six aspects of attitude towards graphs, namely Effort, Value, Affect,
Cognitive competence, Difficulty and Interest were investigated using Pearson product-moment cor-
relation coefficients. According to Cohen (1988), the size of a correlation is an indicator of the practical
significance of a relationship, with correlations of about 0.3(irrespective of sign) and higher taken to
indicate moderate practical effect. Therefore, Table 13 below shows that significant correlations among
the six aspects of attitude ranged from weak (0.26) to strong (0.71). Value was the only aspect that was
positively related to the other five aspects of attitude towards graphs, in particular with Affect. A strong
positive significant relationship (0.71) was found between Cognitive competence and Enjoyment. This
implies that elementary education pre-service teachers who had high affection towards graphs felt they
had graphing knowledge and skills.
Table 13. Correlations among six aspects of attitude.
Value Cogn.Comp Affect Difficulty Interest
Effort .49* .35* .33* .11 .45*

Value .48* .62* .34* .57*
Cogn.C .71* .62* .23
Affect .64* .58*
Difficulty .26*
*Correlation is significant at p<.01(2-tailed)
On the other hand, moderate correlations were found between Effort and Affect (0.33), Value and
Difficulty (0.34) and Cognitive competence and Effort (0.35). There was a somehow weak relationship
between Difficulty and Interest (0.26). Correlations between Effort and Difficulty and Interest and Cog-
nitive competence were not significant. A possible explanation is that elementary pre-service teachers
who had difficulties with graphs had less interest in graphs and they were not likely to attempt to learn
about graphs.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service elementary education teachers’ attitude
towards graphs. Attitude was defined in terms of six aspects: Effort, Value, Cognitive competency, Affect,
Difficulty and Interest.
The results show that pre-service teachers had neutral to positive feelings concerning graphs;
perception of self-competence for graphs; and valued graphs regardless of their perceived difficulties
and moderate interest in graphs. However, there were significant differences on Cognitive competence,
179
(P. 172-181)
Affect, and Difficulty between pre-service teachers in Mathematics concentration areas and those in
English, Social Sciences and Others. A possible explanation for this finding is that pre-service teachers in
mathematics concentration areas are likely to have more affection towards graphs than those in English
and Social Sciences. Furthermore, pre-service teachers in English and Social Sciences concentration
areas are likely to view graphs as more difficult than those in Mathematics. However, there were insig-
nificant differences between pre-service teachers who had taken more mathematics courses and those
who had taken less mathematics courses at either the college or high school levels. On the other hand,
there were significant differences between pre-service teachers who had taken more science courses
and less science courses at college and high school levels. These findings suggest that the number of
mathematics courses taken by pre-service teachers may not have made any difference in their attitude
towards graphs. In contrast, the number of science courses they took in high school seemed to have
made some difference in their attitude towards graphs.
These findings have implications for teacher education and mathematics and science teaching and
learning. For example, though most pre-service teachers valued graphs they expressed an indifferent
interest in them. Such attitude can impede teaching and learning of graphs among teachers. Such at-
titudes can also hinder the extent to which teachers will develop graphing intuitions and useful appli-
cation of graphs in their teaching jobs, personal lives, and lives of their students. Although pre-service
teachers expressed self-competence for graphing, they viewed graphing as a highly technical process
that is difficult to learn quickly. These outcomes also reinforce our view that graphing in teacher educa-
tion should be increased, since a teacher who feels insecure or scared of or not interested in a topic is
unlikely to support its teaching. Therefore, teacher educators should focus on helping pre-service teachers
to develop graphing skills and positive attitude towards graphs regardless of concentration areas for
their elementary education degree because graphs are used in many subject disciplines. It would also
be useful for teacher educators to consider developing strategies that will foster pre-service teachers’
positive attitude towards graphs, and help them reflect on the nature of graphs. Future research should
investigate: the relationship between pre-service teachers’ attitude towards graphs and achievement
on graphs; graphing preferences among pre-service teachers; and the relationship between graphing
preference and achievement on graphs.
Conclusions
On the whole, elementary education pre-service teachers valued graphs, expressed affection
and self-competence for graphing regardless of their perceived graphing difficulties and indifferent
interest in graphs. A strong relationship between Cognitive competence and Affect led us to conclude
that elementary education pre-service teachers with high affection for graphs are likely to think
they have graphing knowledge and skills. On the other hand, non-significant correlations between
Effort and Difficulty and Interest and Cognitive competence led us to conclude that elementary pre-
service teachers who viewed graphs as difficult were likely to express low self-competence and less
interest in graphs. Surprisingly, this study found that the number of mathematics courses taken by
pre-service teachers may not have made any difference in their attitude towards graphs. However,
the number of science courses they took in high school seems to have made some difference in their
attitude towards graphs.
References
Bowen, G. M., & Roth, W.-M. (2005). Data and graph interpretation practices among pre-service science teach-
ers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(10), 1063-1088.
Cantrell, P., Young, S., & Moore, A. (2003). Factors affecting science teaching efficacy of preservice elementary
teachers. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 14(3), 177-192.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Second Edition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
180
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Dauphinee, T. L., Schau, C. & Stevens, J.J. (1997). Survey of attitudes towards statistics: Factor structure invari-
ance for women and men. Structural Equation Modeling, 42(2), 129-141.
Germann, P. J. (1988). Development of the attitude toward science in school assessment and its use to inves-
tigate the relationship between science achievement and attitude toward science in school. Journal of Research in
Science Teaching, 25(8), 689-703.
Gogolin, L., and Swartz, F. (1992). A quantitative and qualitative inquiry into the attitudes toward science of
non science college students. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 29(5), 487-504.
Palmer, D. H. (2001). Factors contributing to attitude exchange amongst pre-service elementary teachers.
Science Education, 85(6), 122-138.
Ritter, D., & Coleman, S. L. (1995). Assessing the graphing skills of pre-service elementary teachers: Identifying
strenghths and deficiencies in education students’ learning processes. Journal of College Science Teaching, 24(6),
388-391.
Roth, W.-M., McGinn, M. K., & Bowen, G. M. (1998). How prepared are preservice teachers to teach scientific
inquiry? Levels of performance in scientific representation practices. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 9(1), 25-
48.
Young, T. (1998). Students’ attitudes towards science (STATS). Evaluation and Research in Education, 12(2), 96-
110.
Received 05 August 2009;

accepted 20 November 2009.
Frackson Mumba Dr., Assistant professor of Science Education, Department

of Curriculum and Instruction, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, IL USA 62901.
Phone: (618) 453-6162; Fax: (618) 453-4244.
E-mail: frackson@siu.edu
Website: http://www.siuc.edu/
Erin Wilson Graduate Student, Science education, Department of
Curriculum and Instruction, Southern Illinois University,
E-mail: ewilson4@siu.edu
Vivien M. Chabalengula Dr., Lecturer in Science education, Department of Curriculum
and Instruction, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
USA 62901. Phone: (618) 453-4216; Fax: (618) 453-4244.
E-mail: mweene@siu.edu
Website: http://www.siuc.edu/
William Mejia PhD Student, Instructional Design & Technology, Department
of Curriculum and Instruction, Southern Illinois University,
E-mail: wmejia@siu.edu
Simeon Mbewe PhD Student, Science Education, Department of Curriculum
and Instruction, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
USA 62901.
E-mail: smbewe@siu.edu
181
A COMPARATIVE APPROACH
TO THE REPRESENTATION
OF LIGHT FOR FIVE-,
EIGHT- AND TEN-YEAR-OLD
CHILDREN: DIDACTICAL
PERSPECTIVES
Abstract. Chidren’s mental represen- Konstantinos Ravanis,

tations of physical concepts and
Jean Marie Boilevin
phenomena are often different from
those of scientists. In this paper we
investigate the issue of understand-
ing light in space as an entity by
schoolchildren aged 5 (127 subjects),
8 (142 subjects) and 10 (132 sub-
jects), before they receive any system-
Theoretical Framework
atic teaching in school. This research
was conducted through individual The question of representations in the minds of children
interviews in which the children of all ages of concepts of the natural sciences has been studied
were asked to talk about light and its extensively over the past decades (Gilbert & Watts, 1983; Johsua
results and to locate it in various ex- & Dupin, 1993). The knowledge produced by related research
perimental situations. The results of is considered important because it allows us to monitor how a
this study show that even though all child approaches a certain concept, the main obstacles to its
the children of all ages have difficulty comprehension, the possible influences of teaching interven-
understanding light as an entity in
tions in school, and the way a child’s thought process develops
up until adulthood (Ergazaki, Komis & Zogza, 2005). In the paper
space, as they grow older they make
presented here, we have attempted to study the representations
significant progress in disconnecting
of light as a natural entity by children of various ages before
light from light sources. These find-
they receive any kind of systematic teaching in school, with an
ings allow us to seek out educational aim to define the main axes of future teaching interventions.
perspectives on the understanding Understanding light as an entity in space has previ-
of the concept of light in organised ously been identified in a series of studies of 5- to 18-year-old
scholastic environments. schoolchildren. These studies have showcased a series of is-
Key words: children’s represen- sues regarding children’s thought processes that are related
tations, didactics of physics, the to the diffusion of light and its interaction with other forms
concept of light. of matter. An important finding of these studies is the way in
which several children’s thinking becomes locked into linking
the concept of light exclusively to the light sources themselves
(Tiberghien, Delacote, Ghiglione & Matalon, 1980; Anderson &
Konstantinos Ravanis Kärrqvist, 1983; Guesne, 1985; Fleer, 1996; Selley, 1996; Toh, Boo
University of Patras, Greece & Woon, 1999; Gallegos Cázares, Flores Camacho & Calderón
Jean Marie Boilevin Canales, 2008). Because of this problem, we have particularly
IUFM d’Aix-Marseille, Université de emphasised the importance of expressing thoughts in which
Provence, France light is located outside light sources, even if this is done based
182
ISSN 1648–3898 A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE REPRESENTATION OF LIGHT FOR FIVE-, EIGHT-
AND TEN-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN: DIDACTICAL PERSPECTIVES
(P. 182-190)
on perception, i.e. in areas where there are visible bright spots (Ravanis, 1999, 2008).
However, the major obstacle in understanding light as a concept is the acknowledgment of its
diffuse presence in space, i.e. its existence as an entity, independent of its sources and the results
it causes. Indeed, when presented with various experimental situations, children of a broad range
of ages and often regardless of conventional teaching in school are not successful in indicating
the presence of light in space, while the pupils’ thought process concentrates more on the sources
of the light or on visible bright areas (Stead & Osborne, 1980; Osborne, Black, Meadows, & Smith,
1993; Ravanis & Papamichael, 1995; Galili, 1996; Langley, Ronen & Eylon, 1997; Galili & Hazan, 2001;
Dedes & Ravanis, 2008, 2009).
But how can this obstacle be explained? Piaget and Garcia (1971) explained that transitive
thought (if AÆB and BÆC, then AÎC), although logico-mathematical in nature, can neverthe-
less be expanded so as to be applicable to entities like power, heat or light as an indirect natural
transition. Indeed, for a child at the stage of pre-operational thought, the approach to light as a
concept centres on light sources (LS) and visible lighted areas (VLA) or a combination thereof via a
thought of direct transition of the following form: LSÆVLA. As a result, children at this stage ignore
the space in which light bundles propagate, that is to say, the space of light’s propagation (SPL). In
contrast, a particular form of mathematical transition characterises operational thought: LSÆSPL
and SPLÆVLA then LSÎVLA.
Therefore, according to Piaget and Garcia (1971), in the case of natural transition the correlation
among the elements of the problem of propagation of light operates as a general model of repre-
sentation of light. The representation of light based on transition is important because, as a two-step
procedure, it imposes the identification of the presence of light in space. The acceptance of light as
an entity that is transmitted independently of the light source and the final receiver constitutes the
necessary convention and beginning of the construction of other associated phenomena of light.
For example, without the identification of light as an entity it would be impossible to understand
the process of the notion of a straight path of light, the formation of shadows or images.
However, the representations do not remain fixed and unchanged in children’s minds but
evolve along with their biological maturation as well as with the work the children do in organised
Physics courses, though we know very well that neither the one factor nor the other are sufficient
to transform their thinking towards schemata that are compatible with the models of Physics. But
if we exclude the teaching factor, i.e. we study the children’s representations before they are taught
issues related to light and Geometrical Optics, then we can follow their thought process as it takes
shape during their biological maturation within their social and natural environment. Thus, in this
paper we have tried to study the representations of children aged 5, 8 and 10, before they take
part in organised courses on light and its interactions with matter, so as to locate the difficulties
and obstacles we will come across during teaching.
Sample
The sample of the study consisted of 127 subjects from 10 kindergarten classes (Group 5: S1 –
S127), 64 boys and 63 girls (ages 4.5–5.5; average age 5.10 years), 142 subjects from 10 primary school
classes (Group 8: S128 – S269), 70 boys and 72 girls (ages 7.5–8.5; average age 7.88 years) and 132
subjects from 11 primary school classes (Group 10: S270 – S401), 66 boys and 66 girls (ages 9.5–10.5;
average age 9.94 years). The selection of the subjects was made by random sampling from among
those who had agreed to “have a discussion” with us. The schools and the kindergartens were in
an urban area with a population of middle socio-economic status.
Having observed, in earlier analyses, that there were no differences between boys and girls in
understanding light as an entity in space (Ravanis, 1999, 2008), we will not be studying differences
in terms of gender. Besides, on the whole, research into children’s ideas concerning the concepts
183
A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE REPRESENTATION OF LIGHT FOR FIVE-, EIGHT- ISSN 1648–3898
(P. 182-190)
and phenomena of the Natural Sciences does not indicate any significant differences in terms of
gender (Wandersee, Mintzes & Novak, 1994; Skoumios, 2008).
Design
The study of the children’s representations was carried out through individual interviews which were
15-18 minutes long, in a space with natural and artificial lighting. The interviews were carried out by a
researcher and were analysed independently by two researchers. During these interviews the children
were presented with five consecutive tasks, were asked certain questions and then had a discussion
with the researchers based on the thoughts they expressed. In all five tasks, the subjects were able to
locate light as an entity in space, on certain surfaces or in the light sources themselves.
In the pre-research carried out on all subject categories, we discovered that the children understand
the questions and are able to formulate verbal answers and interact with the objects we suggested to
them. Sixty subjects participated in the pre-research, 20 out of each group.
We then presented the tasks, the categories of the children’s answers in certain typical examples
and the analysis of the frequency of their answers in the various categories. The eventual differences
were examined for statistical significance with a chi-square test.
Results of Research
In order to gather different kinds of information, we used different kinds of tasks:

a) Tasks/open questions that allow us to understand which aspects of light the children are
verbally referring to when asked directly about it (Tasks 1 & 2).
b) Tasks/experimental situations that are put forth in the form of open questions and are not
closely connected to the children’s verbal expression (Tasks 3, 4 & 5).
In all these tasks we posed an initial question and then, based on each subject’s answer, a dialogue
ensued which was completed when we had a clear picture of each child’s representation.
Task 1
Each child is asked the question: “What is light to you?”Through this question we are trying to explore
whether and how children spontaneously distinguish a) light as a separate entity which is independent
of light sources, and b) the visible results, such as, for example, the strong lighting on certain surfaces,
i.e., whether children use operational thought by which they attribute to light certain autonomous
properties. The answers we received were classified into four categories.
1. Answers that recognise light as an entity in space. For example, “It is something that is all
around us and comes from the sun... (Question: Does it come from somewhere else?) … And
from lamps” (S147), “Light is beams… bright beams” (S273).
2. Answers in which light is connected to its visible results or to bright spots. For example,
“Light helps us see… it helps us walk at night” (S87), “Light shines on us” (S210), “light comes
from the sun so we can see things... like on the wall over there...” (S362).
3. Answers that focus on light sources. For example, “It’s a thing that shines on us when there’s
no sun” (S102), “Light is... the sun” (S202), “It’s a lamp that gives out light” (S280).
4. The fourth category comprises answers given by children that cannot express a specific
representation or the answer “I don’t know,” after we have insisted and given them plenty
of time to think.
In Table 1 we present the frequency of answers by children of all three age groups for Tasks 1 and 2.
184
(P. 182-190)
Table 1. Frequency of the answers of the children of all three groups to Tasks 1 & 2.
Representations Group Group Group Total

5 8 10
Light-entity 6 10 12 28
Light-noticeable result 11 27 61 99
Task 1 Light-light source 91 77 35 203
No representation 19 28 24 71
Total 127 142 132 401
Task 2 Light-light source 97 84 58 239
No representation 11 16 2 29
Total 127 142 132 401
These results show, first of all, that when we ask of children to express their thoughts on light in the
form of an open question, they have difficulty recognising it as an entity in space. The problem remains a
significant one as the children grow older, in spite of the small improvement that is observed from ages
5 to 10 (5 % at around 5 years old, 7 % at 8 and 9 % at 10 years old). However, the increase in age seems
to correspond to an improvement in the recognition of light independently of its sources (9 % at around
5 years old, 19 % at 8 and 46 % at 10 years old), i.e., children’s thought processes shift from the exclusive
association between light sources and light itself. We also observed a respective decrease in age in the
answers that remained focused on light sources (72 % at 5 years old, 54 % at 8, and 26 % at 10 years old). It
is precisely these results, in the second and third answer categories that lead us to a statistically significant
progression in terms of age (χ2 = 67.55, df = 6, p < 0.01). The improvement that comes with the increase
in age is as significant statistically between 5- and 8-year-olds (χ2 = 10.16, df = 3, p < 0.02) as it is between
8- and 10-year-olds (χ2 = 29.04, df = 3, p < 0.01).
Task 2
In the second task we talked with the children based on the initial question “What do you think light
does?”Through this question we tried to determine how children associate light with its results, given that
pre-operational and operational thought leads to different kinds of reasoning. Results that can be traced
through direct sensory perception, such as heating or lighting, display persistence in intuitive reasoning. By
contrast, reasoning that goes beyond pre-operational thought recognises light as an independent entity
associated to phenomena such as life and the growth of organisms. The answers we received in this task
were classified into four categories:
1. Answers in which results caused by light as an entity are generally recognised. For example,
“… (light) gives us life” (S96), “…makes the day” (S386).
2. Answers that focus on the noticeable results caused by light. For example, “It shines on the
table and the blackboard” (S102), “Light shines on us…” (S251).
3. Answers that focus on the presence of light sources. For example, “…we turn on the lamp and
it shines on things” (S101), “Light is in the sun that shines on us” (S265).
representation or the answer “I don’t know,” after we have insisted and given them plenty of
time to think.
In this task too, the results, as presented in Table 1, confirm the difficulties that children of all three
groups have in recognizing light as an independent entity when they are called upon to think within the
framework of an open question. Here again we observe a small improvement in regard to recognising
185
(P. 182-190)
light as an entity, but in terms of quantity this improvement is extremely limited (2 % at 5 years, 5 % at 8 and
7 % at 10 years). However, just as in Task 1, we observe that as the children grow older there is a significant
increase in the percentage of the answers in which it is recognised that light exists outside the light sources
(9 % at 5.19 % at 8 and 46 % at 10 years). A respective decrease is observed in answers that associate light
exclusively with light sources (72 % at 5. 54 % at 8 and 27 % at 10 years). Thus, by studying all the changes
in the sample, there emerges a statistically significant improvement in the children’s answers (χ2 = 52.83,
df = 6, p < 0.01). And in Task 2, the improvement with age is statistically significant between 5 and 8 years
(χ2 = 10.06, df = 3, p < 0.02) as well as between 8 and 10 years (χ2 = 23.82, df = 3, p < 0.01).
Task 3
In the room where the interview took place there was natural light, a light source in operation,
and visible spots of light on walls, on the floor and on certain objects. Each child was asked to: “Tell me
and show me three places in this room where you know light exists.” When the children showed us only
light sources and/or lighted surfaces, we would ask them to show us other places in the room so as to see
whether they would refer to the light in space, i.e. whether they would use operational rather than pre-
operational thought. In this task we received answers which we classified into four categories:
1. Answers in which light is recognised as an independent entity in space or on surfaces where
there is no discernible bright spot. For example, “Light is all around us... it fills the air... ” (S147),
“…it’s above…below, to the right, to the left… everywhere” (S239), “…it’s all over the wall but
some places we can see it and other places we can’t…” (S380).
2. Answers that focus on the surfaces where there are bright spots. For example, “I see the light
of the sun on the window and on the floor… and the light of the lamp on the table, on the
book…” (S65), “The light is everywhere where it can be seen… on the wall, on the table, on the
book…” (S302).
3. Answers that focus on the light sources. For example, “When we turn on the electric lamp…
there’s light (touches the lamp) … now it’s not turned on and it’s hiding the light inside it” (S221),
“In this lamp… in the other one on the ceiling and… in the sun… (Question: Anywhere else?)…
I don’t see any anywhere else” (S388).
representation or the answer “I don’t know,” after we have insisted and given them plenty of
time to think.
In Table 2 we present the frequency of answers by children of all three age groups for Tasks 3, 4
and 5.
Table 2. Frequency of the answers of the children of all three groups to Tasks 3, 4 & 5.

5 8 10
Light-light source 112 58 26 196
Task 3
No representation 2 1 3
Total 127 142 132 401
Task 4
Total 127 142 132 401
186
(P. 182-190)

5 8 10
Task 5
Total 127 142 132 401
In the third task, in which children are asked to locate light in different parts of the room, we ob-
serve a slight increase in the answers given by subjects of Groups 8 and 10 recognising light in space
(4 % in Group 5.13 % in Group 8 and 15 % in Group 10). Moreover, we observe a significant increase in
the number of subjects of the same groups that locate light away from light sources, albeit including
areas of bright spots (8 % in Group 5.45% in Group 8 and 64 % in Group 10). At the same time, as the
children grow older, there is a significant reduction in the subjects that focus on light sources (88 %
in Group 5.41 % in Group 8 and 20 % in Group 10) and thus the processing of all the results leads to
a statistically significant progression (χ2 = 128.09, df = 6, p < 0.01). The improvement of the subjects’
answers with age is statistically significant between 5 and 8 years (χ2 = 65.06, df = 3, p < 0.01) as well as
between 8 and 10 years (χ2 = 14.86, df = 3, p < 0.01).
Task 4
We turn on a flashlight (3V, 1.5W), turn its beam to a wall at a distance of 3m creating a bright
spot, and ask the children: “Where is there light produced by the lamp?” If the children locate the light
at the light bulb or on the wall, we ask them to show us “if there is light between the light bulb and the
wall.” Moreover, the children that refer to the wall are asked to show us where exactly on the wall do
they recognise that there is light. Through this task, carried out in a familiar situation, we can explore
whether the children recognise light in space or not, and where exactly they locate it. In this task, we
received answers that we classified into three categories.
1. Answers in which light is recognised as an entity in space or on surfaces on which there is no

distinct bright spot. For example, “It’s everywhere in the air... all the way to the wall (points
at the trajectory from the light bulb to the wall) … but we can’t always see it” (S147), “The rays
leave the flashlight and go to the wall... between them there is always light” (S304).
2. Answers that focus on the surfaces upon which there are bright spots. For example, “It’s
over there, on the white wall... There it is... The round spot that’s lighted” (S233), “The light of
the light bulb is only on the wall… we don’t see any in between… (Question: We don’t see
any or there isn’t any?) Since it doesn’t exist... we don’t see it... it’s only on the wall... over
there” (S346).
3. Answers that focus on light sources. For example, “Light is the flashlight you’re holding…
there isn’t any anywhere else…” (S82), “Light is in the lamp… it doesn’t exist in the air, unless
you shine the flashlight on a certain point” (S186).
Here, the progress in recognising light as an independent entity is even greater than in the third
task for the groups of subjects aged 8 and 10 (7% at 5 years, 20% at 8 and 48% at 10 years). However,
it seems that a simple experimental circumstance helps the subjects of all groups to recognise light
away from the light source (51% at 5 years, 48% at 8 and 38% at 10 years). This improvement, together
with the concurrent decrease in the answers focusing exclusively on a light source (42% at 5 years, 32%
at 8 and 14% at 10 years), leads to a statistically significant progression following the processing of
the results in their entirety (χ2 = 68.48, df = 4, p < 0.01). In task 4 also, the improvement of the subjects’
answers with age is statistically significant between 5 and 8 years (χ2 = 9.50, df = 2, p < 0.01), as well as
between 8 and 10 years (χ2 = 28.74, df = 2, p < 0.01).
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Task 5
Two pieces of cardboard (A and B), 17cm x 25cm, are placed perpendicularly to a horizontal surface
and at a distance of 12cm from each other (Figure 1). Cardboard Α has a hole in it, 0.5cm in diameter at a
height of 17cm from the horizontal surface. At a distance of 10cm and exactly at the height of the hole, a
light source L (4.8V, 2.4W) is placed.
B A
L
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the Task 5.
The lamp is turned on without the light beam being visible, and we ask the children whether “there
is light in the space between the two pieces of cardboard.” Our aim here is to explore where the children
recognise the presence of light in a situation that is not familiar but artificially constructed. In this task we
receive questions that we classify into three categories:
1. Answers in which light is recognised as an independent entity in space or on the surfaces
on which there is no discernible light spot. For example, “The light goes as far as the hole…
then it goes through the hole, continues between the two pieces of cardboard... and comes
to here, on cardboard (Β) ” (S194), “since the light reaches the second piece of cardboard, then
it is everywhere in the air… both before and after the hole” (S325).
2. Answers that focus on the surfaces upon which there are bright spots. For example, “Not
between them… there is light only on cardboard (Β) ” (S185), “There is some light on cardboard
(Α) and then after the hole there is some more light on cardboard (Β) ” (S336).
3. Answers that focus on light sources. For example, “the light is in the lamp… I don’t think there’s
any in the air…” (S220), “The lamp… the lamp… not between the pieces of cardboard” (S399).
In this task we see that, unlike the subjects in Group 5, several children from Groups 8 and 10 achieve
a representation in which light in space is recognised (2% in Group 5, 22% in Group 8 and 31% in Group
10). Furthermore, over half the children in each group recognise the existence of light in the bright spot
on the piece of cardboard Β (50% in Group 5, 53% in Group 8 and 57% in Group 10). Respectively, a small
number of subjects, mainly from Groups 8 and 10, refer exclusively to the light sources (48% in Group 5,
25% in Group 8 and 12% in Group 10). The processing of all these results gives a statistically significant
progression for the entire sample (χ2 = 63.52, df = 4, p < 0.01). Finally, in Task 5 too, the improvement of
the answers with age is as significant statistically between 5 and 8 year olds (χ2 = 33.65, df = 2, p < 0.01) as
it is between 8 and 10 year olds (χ2 = 7.83, df = 2, p < 0.025).
Discussion
First of all, the research results show that recognising light as an entity in space is, broadly speaking,
an important problem in children’s thought process, as has been pointed out in the related bibliography
regarding different ages. It seems, then, that an obstacle of a psychological nature keeps interfering with
the thought process of children who have not yet been taught Optics in school. This obstacle cannot
merely be an adherence to the givens of perception, since the children could easily locate light on the
various lighted surfaces they see and yet a large number of them focus exclusively on the light sources. The
transitivity hypothesis proposed by Piaget and Garcia (1971) gives an adequate psychological explanation
of the difficulty of understanding not only light, but also other natural entities that entail a transmitter, a
field of propagation and a receiver. It also points to the direction in which researchers should move when
exploring children’s difficulty in recognizing light as an autonomous entity and addressing the question
188
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of a conceptual change (Stead & Osborne, 1980; Guesne, 1985; Osborne, Black, Meadows, & Smith, 1993;
Langley, Ronen & Eylon, 1997; Galili & Hazan, 2001).
However, in terms of teaching, we cannot ignore the qualitative superiority of the answers that rec-
ognise the existence of light outside light sources, albeit in the form of bright spots, compared to other
answers that stress that light exists only in the light sources or is identified with them. For, indeed, when
children recognise light independently of its sources, we are able, through special teaching interventions,
to lead their thought to formulate the necessary reasoning which will conclude with the construction of
light as a material entity that exists everywhere in space.
From the point of view of methodology, we came across big differences between the answers between
the tasks/open questions and the tasks/experimental situations. It appears that, as the open questions
require more developed verbal abilities, established representations in the selection of examples and,
primarily, the ability to tackle, process and understand abstract questions, the majority of the children and
almost all the children aged 5 were not in a position to discuss light in space in terms of its autonomous
presence. This specific dimension of the matter is also evident in the ‘lost’ questions to which the children
either do not answer at all, or answer in a way that does not allow us to give form to a representation.
Indeed, as we saw, while in the tasks/open questions we had several lost answers from subjects belonging
to all the groups, in the tasks/experimental situations, in which all questions address specific problems,
there were very few lost answers.
By studying the results in their entirety, we can observe that, starting with children aged 5 and shifting
towards children aged 10, there is systematic improvement in the matter of recognizing light as an entity
in space, independent of light sources and the results it causes. Furthermore, there is great progress in
the matter of locating light outside light sources. These observations are also statistically confirmed in all
tasks. It is also interesting to note that the statistically significant progression is observed between 5- and
8-years-olds as well as between 8- and 10-year-olds.
This general improvement can be expected with the increase in age, since, as the children grow older,
they reorganise and improve their representations of natural entities. However, in the matter of under-
standing light as an independent entity in space, the results show that the progress made before any kind
of systematic teaching intervention is limited and concerns only older children. Nevertheless, given that
in many international curricula children’s exposure to the concepts and phenomena of Optics is carried
out as early as kindergarten, addressing the concept of light as an entity in space is necessary, since all the
optical phenomena require and presuppose the construction of the concept of light.
From a didactic aspect, therefore, it is both useful and effective to lead the children as early as possible
to the construction of the concept of light. This might involve efforts to approach light through activities
that aim at the formation of images (Gallegos Cázares, Flores Camacho & Calderón Canales, 2009) or at the
comprehension of the mechanism of vision (Osborne, Black, Meadows, & Smith, 1993).
In other studies, researchers have directly attempted to transform children’s representations of light.
The results of a previous study (Ravanis, Papamichaël and Koulaidis, 2002) showed that, through processes
of cognitive destabilization and reconstruction of their representations, children aged 10 are able to ef-
fectively construct a concept regarding light that is compatible with the model of Geometrical Optics. The
study carried out here moves in the same direction but involves 5- as well as 8-year-olds.
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Received 10 July 2009;

accepted 28 November 2009.
Konstantinos Ravanis Bachelor in Physics and Educational Sciences, Post Graduate

Diploma in Science Education, Ph.D. in Science Education,
Professor in Science Education at the Department of
Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University
of Patras, Rion-Patras, 26500, Greece.
Phone: 00302610997717.
E-mail: ravanis@upatras.gr
Website: http://www.ecedu.upatras.gr/
Jean Marie Boilevin Bachelor in Physics, Post Graduate Diploma in Science
Education, Ph.D. in Science Education, Ass. Professor in Science
Education at the IUFM Aix-Marseille, UMR ADEF, University of
Provence, France, 32 rue Eugène Cas, 13248, Marseille, code 04.
Phone: 0033491112653.
E-mail : jm.boilevin@aix-mrs.iufm.fr
Website: http://www.aix-mrs.iufm.fr/
190
CHILDREN’S CONCEPTIONS
OF ANIMAL BREATHING: A
CROSS – AGE AND CROSS –
CULTURAL COMPARISON
Abstract. Research on children’s ideas

Pavol Prokop,
about biological phenomena showed
Muhammet Usak,
that their interpretations of natural
Murat Özel,
phenomena often differ from those of
Jana Fančovičová
scientists. The purpose of this study was to
investigate children’s ideas about animal
breathing systems. This study was descrip-
tive in nature and consisted of a cross age
Introduction
and cross cultural design involving the
Children’s acquisition of biological knowledge has attracted collection of qualitative data from a total
interest of many psychologists and educational researchers. Acqui- of 549 children from two distinct countries,
sition of biological knowledge in early childhood is characterised Slovakia (n = 248) and Turkey (n = 301).
by animism which means children are unable to differentiate The results revealed that understandings
between living and non-living things (Inagaki & Hatano, 1996).
of invertebrates breathing systems were
Later in preschool age, young children’s understanding of biologi-
generally poorer than understandings of
cal phenomenas is influenced by their personal experiences with
themselves and living organisms (Teixeira, 2000). The findings of vertebrates breathing systems. Turkish
experimental works rather suggest that children’s keeping animals children acquired better scores than Slo-
as pets or their personal experiences with consuming foods might vakian children. Although some children
provide to acquire their information about basic aspects of life and were able to identify breathing organs of
understand functions of organ systems (Inagaki, 1990; Teixeira,
animals, they had difficulties with describ-
2000; Prokop, Prokop, & Tunnicliffe,, 2008). However, researchers
ing how breathing works.
emphasize that children during the school age have not still devel-
oped their biological conceptions according to scientific accepted Key words: alternative conceptions, ani-
theories and their conceptions about natural phenomena often mals, breathing, primary children.
differ from those of scientists (Carey, 1985). These differing con-
ceptions have been described as misconceptions in the literature
(Fisher, 1985), the term that we use throughout this text to refer to
children’s conceptions that are different from scientifically accepted
Pavol Prokop
conceptions. It is widely accepted that these differing conceptions
Trnava University; Slovak Academy of
are resistant to change, they interact with knowledge presented
Sciences, Slovakia
by teachers and result in unintended learning outcomes; they are
Muhammet Usak
similar across age, abilities, gender, and culture and they are found
Dumlupinar University, Turkey
frequently among teachers as well as students (Fisher, 1985; Wan-
Murat Özel
dersee, Mintzes, & Novak, 1994; Yen, Yao, & Chiu, 2004; Yip, 1998).
Gazi University, Turkey
For this reason, it is much more important for science educators to
Jana Fančovičová
identify children’s conceptions about a phenomenon, particularly,
Trnava University, Slovakia
before introducing the conceptions related to it.
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CULTURAL COMPARISON
(P. 182-190)
Prevalence and types of children’s misconceptions
Over the past three decades, many of studies in science education have mostly focused on
children’s biological ideas in science. Although a number of these research studies have investigated
students’ conceptions about the photosynthesis (e.g., Özay & Öztas 2003), diffusion and osmosis (Tek-
kaya, 2003), cell (Lewis, Leach, & Wood-Robinson, 2000), ecology (Munson, 1994), forest (Strommen,
1995), seeds (Jewell, 2002), human body (Mintzes, 1984), digestive system (Teixeira, 2000; Ozgur &
Pelitoglu, 2008), circulatory system (Sungur, Tekkaya, & Geban, 2001), endocrine and urinary system
(Prokop, Fančovičová, & Tunnicliffe, 2009a), animal classification (Braund, 1998; Kattmann, 2001; Trow-
bridge & Mintzes, 1988), animals (Tunnicliffe, Gatt, Agius, & Pizzuto, 2008), and insects (Shepardson,
1997, 2002), lack of research on the area of students’ conceptions about animal breathing reveals the
need for the present research. To our best knowledge, only two researchers indirectly investigated
students’ conceptions about animal breathing (Trowbridge & Mintzes, 1985, 1988). Trowbridge and
Mintzes (1988) examined students’ alternative conceptions in animal classification at the elementary,
secondary, and college levels. They found that only 5% of college biology majors thought that craw-
fish was a vertebrate. Thus, it is essential for research in science education to continue to expand our
understanding of children’s conceptions about biological phenomena (Prokop et al., 2008).
Cultural component of children’s misconceptions
Researchers such as Mintzes and Wandersee (1998) and Inagaki and Hatano (2006) emphasized
that the culture is one of the important variables which affects children’s conceptions. These concep-
tions that children have should also be distributed to people irrespective of culture. However, there
has been very limited research that compared children’s ideas about biological conceptions across
cultures (Reiss et al., 2002). The majority of the existing studies have been carried out mostly with
samples from a single country. Depending on specific cultural factors (abilities, social classes, teachers
and textbooks, etc.), studies are needed to be done in different countries.
Methods for identifying misconceptions among children
To understand a breathe system as a complex concept, it is essential to recognize the differences

between vertebrate and invertebrate respiratory system (Prokop et al., 2008). More currently, Prokop
et al. (2008) pointed out that “a typical feature of misunderstanding of internal organs in invertebrates
was drawing of a gaseous exchange system” (Prokop et al., 2008, p. 437). Their findings showed n
that children’s virtually all drawings of the stag beetle and crawfish a typical higher vertebrate lung
did not contain breathing tubes (in case of stag beetle) or the plume-like gills that are located in
gill chambers on each side of the body (in case of crawfish) (Prokop et al., 2008). Although there is
a general expectation that the prevalence of alternative conceptions is higher in younger children
compared with older ones (Carey, 1985), Prokop et al. (2008) failed to find evidence that older children
are able to recognize the difference between vertebrate and invertebrate respiratory system. Thus,
these results could be simply interpreted as misunderstanding of children about animal respiration.
However, considering the fact that more than half of children did not include respiratory system in
the drawings of invertebrates, and “general” instruction to children (by asking “draw what do you think
what was inside the animal when it was alive”) have been used, it is questionable what ideas about
animal breathing children really have.
Another fact is that how children conceptions vary with gender because females have somewhat
higher interest in biology than males (e.g., Prokop, Prokop, & Tunnicliffe, 2007a). For example,
Prokop et al. (2008) reported that children’s alternative conceptions about animals are more frequently
found in females. Furthermore, the findings of Mintzes and Wandersee (1998) indicated that “naive
ideas” or alternative conceptions may stem from gender.
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CULTURAL COMPARISON
(P. 182-190)
Purpose
The review of the literature demonstrates there are a few research studies dealing with children’s
conceptions of animal breathing systems. The present study, therefore, is focused on children’s con-
ceptions about animal breathing systems in various age groups, moreover, in samples of two different
countries, Slovakia and Turkey. Kao (2007) noted that students from different living environment have
different conceptual comprehension. The culture of the learners and the culture of school science will
influence science learning, as well as the negotiation and validity and interpretation of data through
the social processes (Packer & Goicoecha, 2000). With this aspect of the study, we believe that the
study would provide the benefit on how conceptions regarding animal breathing are characterised
in two different cultures.
We were motivated by the fact that there is lack of cross-cultural research in this field thus any
generalizations from current findings are heavily limited. Accordingly, the paper specifically explores
the following questions: 1) What are Turkish and Slovakian children’s conceptions about animal
breathing systems? 2) How much do children’s conceptions about breathing of vertebrates and
invertebrates change from the forth to eight grade? 3) Is there any difference between Turkish and
Slovakian children’s conceptions of animal breathing?
The study is descriptive and reflects a cross age survey, including the collection of qualitative
data (student drawings and responses to open-ended questions). Data were analyzed in a descrip-
tive manner to identify the conceptions and patterns in students’ responses. Later statistical analyses
were followed to determine the significance in the frequency of the identified student conceptions.
With cross- age study, we were able to collect data from students with varying graders of educational
experiences that provided us access to an extent of student conceptions.
Instrument
One of the research methods commonly used for identifying children’s conceptions or under-
standings of natural phenomena is drawings (e.g. Reiss & Tunnicliffe, 2001; Prokop, Prokop, Tunnicliffe,
& Diran, 2007b), sometimes supplemented by interviews (Teixeira, 2000; Žoldošová & Prokop, 2007),
open-ended questions (Prokop & Fančovičová, 2006) or multiple choice questions (Trowbridge &
Mintzes, 1988; Kubiatko & Prokop, 2007). Khwaja and Saxton (2001) suggested that specific type of
instruction (e.g., “draw bones that are inside your body”) can lead in different, but more accurate
results comparing with very general instruction like “draw what you think is in your body”. In this
study, drawings were used as part of a breathe task to represent and communicate their meaning
(Kress, Jewitt, Ogborn, & Tsatsarelis, 2001). The drawings represent what children view as crucial and
salient. Children generate the drawings based on their prior experiences and existing conceptions.
Thus they reflect unique social, educational, and cultural experiences of the students (Shepardson
et al., 2007).
In the present study, the questionnaire developed by researchers was used to gather the data.
Silhouettes of both vertebrates (frog, snake, fish and bird) and invertebrates (snail, earthworm, bee
and crawfish) were presented in the questionnaire.
We followed a simple instruction for each silhouette: “Please draw what you think how XX [e.g.
snail] breathes (you may use “→” for clear description where the air comes inside and outside an ani-
mal). And we asked to describe what the name of breathing organ is” whereby “XX” represents one
of eight animals” (see also Appendix A). We recognized separately the organ systems in each drawing
and analyzed according to 1) The type of organ system, 2) Inspiration, and 3) Expiration. We focused
mainly on children’s understanding of the functions of animal breathing and assessed both draw-
ings (especially direction of air coming inside and outside an animal) and written responses (e.g., this
animal breathes by lungs). Prior to definite administration of the questionnaire, third author of this
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CULTURAL COMPARISON
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paper interviewed 15 Turkish children 9 – 15 years old to examine whether children are fully able to
understand the formulation of our planned tasks. It was found that all children were able to answer
our questions and just in few instances they did not have any idea about breathing of some animals.
In interviews, children were asked to explain breathing in four vertebrates (frog, snake, fish and bird)
and five invertebrates (snail, earthworm, wasp, beetle and crawfish). Because bees and wasp showed
similar responses (most probably because both of them are insects), we omitted these two animals
from the final version of the questionnaire and used a bee as a well known example of an insect in
Turkey and Slovakia. All examples of selected animals are typical examples of vertebrates and inver-
tebrates that represent different types of breathing systems and are known from biology textbooks
by Slovakian and Turkish children. In order to provide scientific validity of the questions and tasks in
the questionnaire, our research instrument was independently submitted to two biology professors
from two different universities, two primary science teachers and secondary biology teachers in each
country for their comments. More specifically, they were asked to evaluate: (1) Whether are questions
acceptable in terms of scientifically accepted ideas for particular level of children; (2) Whether wording
of the questions is appropriate for ages of children in sample; and (3) Whether the questions serve
for the aim of this study. In the sequence of this procedure, all questions were criticised and thus the
validity of the questions were provided.
Administration and analysis of the questionnaire
A total of 549 children (9–15 years old, grade 4 - 8) from four randomly selected Slovakian and
(N= 248) and four Turkish elementary schools (N= 301) participated in the study. The number of boys
and girls was 234 and 315 respectively. The mean age of children was 11.77 year (SE = 0.07) with no
difference with respect to country (Mann-Whitney U test, U = 37263.5, p = 0.97). These schools were
typical state schools with about 400 – 1200 enrolment.
The selection of the children was done randomly by class teacher, with instruction from the
researcher that children selected be of about willing to participate in the research. The question-
naire with tasks (see below) was administered on a single occasion. Initially, each child was given a
sheet of paper with the questionnaire that asked for several details that could potentially affect their
knowledge about animal breathing. The children were asked (1) for their age/grade and (2) for their
gender. The authors claimed to students that the questionnaire is not an exam, it said that it was a
tool what they thought about animal breathe. The children needed approximately 25 - 30 min for
completion of the questionnaire in both countries. The drawings on each animal were scored with
1 point per each correct explanation resulting in a maximum score of 3 per each animal. Drawings
were coded by two co-authors from each country. After this independent scoring, all authors met
personally in August 2008 in Slovakia and thus compared children’s drawings and scores. Firstly,
written responses on open-ended questions were discussed and coded. In the few cases where our
scorings differed we discussed the responses until we agreed on the category to be awarded. At the
end of all these analyses, it was calculated that the inter-rater reliability coefficient was 0.97. These
results also confirmed that our scoring system was reliable.
Results of Research
General patterns of children’s ideas about animal breathing
Results of the analysis of students’ drawings are summarized in Figure 1. These findings show
that the trend for Turkish and Slovakian children was consistent for drawings of four animal species,
frog, snake, fish and bird. As can be seen, the trend in children’s drawings was in favour of vertebrate
animals. It is worth noting that Turkish children showed a high level of understanding in the draw-
ing of earthworm as well as other vertebrate animals. This pattern may correspond with the differ-
ence of science curriculum between two countries. The findings also show that Turkish children had
better scores from five of eight animal species compared with Slovakian children. Only scores from
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breathing of snail, crawfish and fish did not differ significantly between countries. When comparing
the ideas about breathing between vertebrate and invertebrate animals, it is clear that vertebrates
were much better understood (see Figure 1). With regard to invertebrates, snail, bee and crawfish
scored worst, only earthworm (especially in Turkey) was understood similarly like vertebrates. It may
stem from children’s informal experiences. With regard to vertebrates, bird scored best, then frog and
snake and finally a fish.
Figure 1. Children’s mean scores with breathe of eight different animals. Different letters denote
significant differences between animals based on Tukey post-hoc tests (A vs. B-E, p <
0.001, B vs. C, E, p < 0.001, B vs. D, p < 0.05, C vs. D, E, p < 0.001, D vs. E, p < 0.001). Asterisks
denote significant differences between countries based on Tukey post-hoc tests (ns = not
statistically significant, *** p < 0.001).
Breathing organ
The percentages values of Slovakian and Turkish children who gave the correct answer on the
general question “describe what the name of breathing organ is” are presented in Table 1. The responses
given for this question show that less than half of children were able to give the correct explanation
for the questions related to the breathing organ. The majority of children in both countries were able
to give the correct explanation for only two animal species. These were fish and bird. It was found
that 76 % of Slovakian children and 60 % of Turkish children successfully answered the question
about main breathing organ of fish. Slovakian and Turkish children’s answers for main breathing
organ of bird were 57 % and 71%, respectively. This means that children were relatively more sure
when identifying fish and bird, but less sure when they were faced with animals with which they do
not often encounter in their daily live. This may stem from children’s experiences with fish and bird in
their daily lives. As could be seen in Table 1, breathing organs of other animal species are identified
less than fish and bird. Looking at Table 1, it is seen that only 6 % and 8 % of Slovakian and Turkish
children successfully answered the main organ of a frog. About 30 % of children in both countries
thought that a bee breathes with lugs. Similarly, about 20 % of Slovakian and Turkish children thought
that the main breathing organ of crawfish was lungs. Also, it is interesting to note that some children
(17-13%) thought that earthworms breathe with lungs. In addition, the large number of the “do not
know” answers shows the problems with animal breathing.
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Effect of age
Figure 2 shows the effect of age in interaction with country differences. For easier description of
this result, we used overall score from all 8 animals (with maximal possible score 24) for comparison. As
can be seen in Figure 2, Turkish children scored better than Slovakian children in 4th, 5th, 6th grade did,
but overall score in grade 7 and 8 were not statistically different. A comparison of the means within
each country by the Tukey post-hoc test showed that Slovakian children had very similar overall score
with respect to grade. Only 8th grade children scored little better than other children (Tukey’s p < 0.05).
Significant results were found in Turkey. Fifth grade children scored better than 4th graders (Tukey’s p
= 0.001), 5th and 6th grade had similar score (Tukey’s p = 0.50) and 6th graders scored best (all p’s except
for 5th grade < 0.001). Eight graders had similar score like 4th graders (Tukey’s p = 1.0). Interestingly,
overall score of 7th graders consistently dropped down in both two countries. Although it is difficult
to explain this phenomenon, similar trends were reported by Prokop, Prokop and Tunnicliffe (2008) so
it seems to be a rule rather than accident. Inspection of Gender × Grade interaction showed that girls
scored better than boys in grade 6 and opaque pattern was found in grade 8. It is difficult to explain
why this interaction occurred but the cause of this phenomenon remains unclear.
Table 1. Frequency (%) of main breathing organ systems reported by Slovakian and Turkish
children.
Breathing system
Epipodites on Do not
Animal Country Skin Trachea Gills Lungs Others
thoracal limbs know
Snail Slovakia 5 0.4 0 0.4 41 * 40 13
Turkey 9 0 0 14 24 * 13 41
Earthworm Slovakia 37 * 0 0 0 17 39 8
Turkey 42 * 0 0 3 13 20 6
Bee Slovakia 2 21 * 0 0 27 47 4
Turkey 0 20 * 0* 3 31 11 35
Crawfish Slovakia 0 0.4 0* 34 * 18 39 8
Turkey 2 5 3 6* 16 41 27
Frog Slovakia 6* 0 0 19 35 * 35 4
Turkey 8* 0 0 18 32 * 9 33
Snake Slovakia 8 0 0 1 43 * 44 4
Turkey 17 0 0 5 47 * 12 19
Fish Slovakia 0 0 0 76 * 6 17 2
Turkey 0 0 0 60 * 5 12 23
Bird Slovakia 0 0 0 0 57 * 39 4
Turkey 2 0 0 3 71 * 9 15
* Responses coded as correct
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General patterns of children’s ideas about breathing organ systems
In general even if a child had correct idea by which organ an animal breathe, it was difficult for
children to show where the air come inside or outside in invertebrate animals. This means that even
some children have formal knowledge about the name of animal breathing system, he/she has not
clear idea how it works. Therefore, we analysed expiration and inspiration organs of all animals from
children’ drawings and written answers. The results showed that there were different patterns of chil-
dren misunderstanding about animal breathing in vertebrates and invertebrates. Many of children
thought that inspiration and expiration breathing organs of animals were different. Table 2 reports the
percentages of main organs for inspiration by children. Although less than half of children reported
that snails breathe by lungs, only one Turkish children knew that snails have special opening for breath-
ing. Instead more than half of all children thought that snails breathe through their mouths. Similarly,
about 20 % of children thought that earthworm inspire air by their mouths. One exception was an
earthworm in which breathing through skin seems to be easier to understand comparing with other
invertebrates. It can be concluded that breathing process of snails was however almost unknown.
Very interesting situation was found in breathing of a bee among Slovakian children. More children
incorrectly thought that bee breathes by lungs (see Table 1) and even about 20 % were correct with
tracheas, only one child was able to show pores on bee’s body as places where inspiration takes place.
In Turkey, about 20 % of all children consistently knew the name of bee’s breathing system and were
able to show tracheal openings. Breathing by mouths was however relatively frequently shown by
children in both countries (see Table 2 and 3). However, none of the Slovakian children and just 3 % of
Turkish children correctly knew that crawfish breathe through epipodites on thoracal limbs. Therefore,
we also counted gills as correct answers because gills are in fact more close to reality that for example
lungs or skin. Inspiration of crawfish was frequently misunderstood with mouth (Table 2).
Figure 2. Children overall score from animal breathing with respect to country and grade (ns = not
statistically significant, *** p < 0.001).
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Table 2. Frequency (%) of main organs used for inspiration reported by children.
Organ for inspiration
Thoracal Do not
Animal Country Skin Mouth Nose Pores Others
limbs know
Snail Slovakia 2 53 4 0 0 30 10
Turkey 9 64 1 0 0 14 12
Turkey 57 * 19 4 0 0 14 5
Bee Slovakia 0.4 52 4 0.4 * 0 36 8
Turkey 2 39 3 20 * 0 18 19
Crawfish Slovakia 0 27 4 0 0* 56 13
Turkey 5 35 0 1 3* 52 3
Frog Slovakia 4* 50 * 9* 0 0 3 3
Turkey 11 * 52 * 12 * 0 0 14 10
Snake Slovakia 1 46 * 25 * 0 0 27 1
Turkey 22 60 * 10 * 0 0 8 0
Fish Slovakia 0 25 * 1 0 0 38 37
Turkey 0 28 * 2 0 0 13 58
Bird Slovakia 0 61 * 12 * 0 0 26 1
Turkey 2 49 * 25 * 0 0 17 7
Table 3 presents the percentages of main organs for expiration reported by children. Less (26%)
than half of Slovakian children and most (64 %) than half of Turkish children thought that snail ex-
piration air by mouth. Similarly about 30 % of children thought that bee expiration air by mouth. In
the case of crawfish, 19 % of Slovakian children and 32 % of Turkish children incorrectly thought that
crawfish expiration air by mouth. Similar to the findings in Table 2, no one Slovakian children and just
3 % of Turkish children correctly knew that crawfish breathes through epipodites on thoracal limbs.
This result supports the idea that expiration of crawfish is frequently misunderstood with mouth. It is
interesting that 17 % Turkish children incorrectly thought that snake breathes by skin only. The same
findings related to breathing of bee were also found in Table 2. Although most of children incorrectly
thought that bee breathes by lungs (see Table 1) and even about 20 % were correct with tracheas, only
one child was able to show pores on bee’s body as places where expiration takes place. Consequently,
when comparing the results in Table 2 and 3, it can be concluded that children of both countries thought
that animals inspire air by mouth.
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Table 3. Frequency (%) of main organs used for expiration reported by children.
Organ for expiration
Thoracal Do not
Animal Country Skin Mouth Nose Pores Others
limbs know
Snail Slovakia 1 26 1 0 0 56 17
Turkey 9 64 11 0 0 14 3
Turkey 62 * 15 3 0 0 14 7
Bee Slovakia 0 27 2 0.4* 0.4 60 10
Turkey 2 36 11 20* 0 18 14
Crawfish Slovakia 0 19 1 0 0* 67 13
Turkey 5 32 0 1 3* 54 4
Frog Slovakia 0.4 * 26* 7* 0 0 59 7
Turkey 9* 46 * 23* 0 0 14 8
Snake Slovakia 1 25 * 13* 0 0 54 8
Turkey 17 58 * 17* 0 0 8 0
Fish Slovakia 0 15 0 0 0 54 31
Turkey 0 17 4 0 0 13 67
Bird Slovakia 0 36 * 4* 0 0 54 5
Turkey 2 48 * 29* 0 0 17 4
In detail, children’s mean scores from breathing of inverterates are shown in Figure 3. Interestingly,
2 – 5 % of all children incorrectly showed that animals expire air through anus. These patterns were
found in all eight animals examined. A similar number of children thought that snail, bee and crawfish
inspire air through their antennae or that a bee inspire air by wings. Sixteen percent of Turkish children
thought that fish inspire air through fins.
All examples of vertebrate animals in this study can inspire air to lungs through mouth which is
frequently thought to be an organ for air inspiration (Figure 4). This is probably why inspiration was
generally better understood by children compared with expiration or type of organ for breathing.
Organ system for brething of a frog and snake was correctly identified by half of children (see Table 2).
However, snake was somewhat more frequently thought to be breathed by the skin compared with
other vertebrates (Tables 1–3). Breathing by gills in fish was very well known (Table 2), but mechanism
of expiration was poorly understood (Table 3). Only 26 % of Slovakian and 42 % of Turkish children
correctly identified gills as the place of expiration. Breathing of birds was relatively well understood
comparing with other animals.
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Figure 3. Children’s mean scores from breathing of invertebrates.
Figure 4. Children’s mean scores from breathing of vertebrates.
Figure 5 shows that a drawing of the breathing system of a bee of a Slovakian 14 year old girl.
As can be see from Figure 5, children thought that a bee breathes by abdomen.
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Figure 5. A drawing of the breathing system of a bee by a Slovakian 14 year old girl (Grade 8). Girls’s
description of the drawing means “A bee breathes by tummy”.
Factors influencing children’s ideas
The results of the repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the breathing scores from eight ani-
mal species are shown in Table 4. Almost all effects except for gender were strong enough to indicate
differences with respect of all of these variables. These results show that especially cultural differences
affects children’s conceptions. The results also show that children’s grade is one of the important factor
affects children’s conceptions.
Table 4. Analysis of variance of children’s ideas of animal breathing, by country, gender, grade and
animal species.
Test of between-subject effects
Sum of Squares DF Mean Square F p

Country 109.32 1 109.32 85.77 <0.001
Gender 0.01 1 0.01 0.01 0.93
Grade 152.23 4 38.06 29.86 <0.001
Country × Gender 0.04 1 0.04 0.03 0.86
Country × Grade 39.43 4 9.86 7.73 <0.001
Gender × Grade 47.91 4 12.00 9.40 <0.001
Country × Gender × Grade 63.21 4 15.80 12.40 <0.001
Error 674.29 529 1.28
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Test of within-subject effects
SS DF MS F p
Species 1195.72 7 170.82 338.15 <0.001
Species× Country 196.14 7 28.02 55.47 <0.001
Species × Gender 14.50 7 2.07 4.10 <0.001
Species × Grade 157.81 28 5.64 11.16 <0.001
Species × Country × Gender 17.05 7 2.44 4.82 <0.001
Species × Country × Grade 146.27 28 5.22 10.34 <0.001

Species × Gender × Grade 121.29 28 4.33 8.58 <0.001
Species × Gender × Grade × 100.53 28 3.59 7.11 <0.001

Country
Error 1870.58 3703 0.51
Discussion
This study provides first detailed evidence about children’s ideas of breathing system of ver-
tebrate and invertebrate animals in two distinct countries. It was found that significant proportion
of children in all age groups in both countries misunderstood the functions of animal breathing,
especially those of invertebrates. Boys showed similar ideas about animal breathing like girls.
Overall Turkish children scored significantly better than Slovakian children. Especially a sample of
Slovakian children showed low variability of understanding of animal breathing when compared
with various age groups, which means alternative conceptions are resistant to change even after
formal effect of school system. As age of children increased, the mean score from breathing de-
creased and showed very similar trends between Turkish and Slovakian sample. The methodology
used in this study supports earlier criticism of “general instructions” of children by researchers which
states that more specific instruction leads to more accurate results (Khwaja & Saxton, 2001; Prokop,
Fančovičová, & Tunnicliffe, 2009a).
Significance of gender
The present study failed to show any differences among children’s ideas about animal breathing
system with respect to gender. Initially, this result is not surprising when we consider the alterna-
tive conceptions that are expected to be distributed randomly irrespective of the effect of gender
(Wandersee & Mintzes, 1998). Our findings are consistent with the findings of Prokop et al. (2007a),
who did to find any gender difference among children’s conceptions of birds. Investigating children’s
ideas of internal animal organs, however, resulted in better score of girls compared with boys (Prokop
et al., 2007c, 2008) although girls showed more alternative conceptions regarding internal skeleton
of invertebrates (Prokop et al., 2008). Why then girls in the present study showed the same level of
understanding of animal breathing like boys? We suggest that design of our research instrument
did not allow children to express only factual knowledge like it could be when children were asked
“What do you think was inside an animal when it was alive” (Tunnicliffe & Reiss, 1999; Prokop et al.,
2007c, 2008). This argument can be supported either by the fact that students do not necessarily
understand the function of organs what they most frequently draw (Prokop & Fančovičová, 2006)
and by better score of organs compared with ‘nspiration or expiration in invertebrates (Figure 3)
that were worse understood for children relatively to breathing of vertebrates. In addition, our tasks
were most probably addressed to knowledge that could be acquired by children in formal biology
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settings rather than by their personal experiences that are responsible for some gender differences
in understanding of animal anatomy (Prokop et al., 2008).
The effect of age and country
Slovakian sample of children showed no apparent difference in children’s understanding of

animal breathing. Both 4th and 5th graders that inexperienced with zoology course showed similar
mean score from animal breathing tasks like older children. In contrast, Turkish children scored
better especially children from grades 4 – 6. There is general assumption that alternative concep-
tions should be comparably distributed across cultures (Mintzes & Wandersee, 1998). If so, why
these differences between countries occurred? We suggest that educational reform in Turkey in
2005 (Koc, Isiksal, & Bulut, 2007) can be responsible for these differences. This reform is based on
constructivist approach which states that children knowledge cannot be directly transmitted but
must be actively constructed by learners (Ausubel, 1968; Mintzes & Wandersee, 1998). Turkish cur-
riculum developers adapt a reformist philosophy that supports children’s active construction of
their knowledge through problem solving, exploration, reflection and communication, and other
thought-provoking processes that require high level cognitive demand (Koc et al., 2007). In contrast,
Slovakian system is based on ‘traditional’ educational approach which ignores experiential learning
and teaches students how to succeed standardised tests and nothing more. Because constructivist
approach has various benefits such as better learning outcomes in biology (Christianson & Fisher,
1999; Wu & Tsai, 2005), it can be assumed that Turkey benefits from educational reform in terms of
better understanding.
Differences caused by animal species in tasks
Previous research has revealed that children’s ideas of what is inside animals are influenced
by animal species which means that some animals are understood better than others (Tunnicliffe
& Reiss, 1999; Prokop et al., 2007c, 2008). The present study totally supports these finding because
we found significant differences in children’s understanding of various animals. In general, draw-
ings of vertebrates scored better than drawings of invertebrates. This difference most probably
originated by “making analogies” between unfamiliar animals or even humans and animals (Ina-
gaki, 1990; Prokop et al., 2008) which could result in incorrect drawings of respiratory system of
invertebrates. Especially drawing vertebrate breathing organs, which is more familiar to children
(Reiss & Tunnicliffe, 2001), inside invertebrates, may responsible for low mean scores. Breathing of
earthworm was better understood compared with other invertebrates probably because breathing
through skin is easier and understandable than breathing through tracheas or other organ systems.
Importantly, organ systems were better understood than mechanisms of inspiration and expiration
in all invertebrates which means that acquiring formal knowledge about the name of particular
breathing system does not necessarily result in an understanding of how breathing works. This is
perfectly illustrated in example of a snail, in which a considerable number of children were aware
about the name of breathing system of snail, but almost none of children were able to describe
how it breathes. Similarly, breathing organs of fish seems to be relatively well known, but simple
describing the way how breathing works was problematic for children. The reason why breathing of
birds was best understood can be supported by “making analogies” hypothesis that was described
earlier (Inagaki, 1990; Prokop et al., 2008). Birds and snakes, but no other vertebrates in tasks, have
similar breathing system like humans, thus making analogies between humans and birds could result
in drawings with high scores. On the other hand, snakes are often misclassified with invertebrates
by children (Braund, 1998), so tasks with snakes were probably perceived confusing by children.
Limitations of the study
Two aspects of our research limit results of the present study. First of all, we used only a single
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method of children’s drawing to examine children’s knowledge about animal breathing systems.
We acknowledge that a more intensive methodology, for example one that combined drawings
with subsequent interviews (see White & Gunstone, 1994), would allow children more fully to
demonstrate their understanding. For example, in some cases it was difficult for us to identify
students’ certain ideas through drawings. Interviewing would have allowed us to resolve at least
some such uncertainties. On the other hand, interviews generally resulted in limited sample sizes,
which are partly compensated for by the large number of participants used in our research. Also,
we did not ask children whether they lived on farms or not. Recent studies suggest that experi-
ences with interactions with animals, especially in early childhood, are associated with long-term
animal-related preferences and attitudes (Paul & Serpell, 1993) and future career choice (Serpell,
2005). However, considering the fact that animals are less frequently owned by Turkish students
(Prokop, Özel, & Uşak, 2009b), confounding effects of keeping animals (which could favour Turkish
children) is less likely.
Conclusion and Educational Implications
Breathing of animals was found to be poorly understood by children of various age groups,
especially in Slovakia. The methodological approach with specific instruction used here provided
more accurate results in comparison with earlier research (e.g. Reiss & Tunnicliffe, 2001; Prokop et
al., 2007c, 2008). We therefore recommend to use this approach in further research. As expected in
previous research, children “make analogies” and frequently use typical vertebrate breathing organs
to explain breathing in unfamiliar organisms like invertebrates or simply do not know. Although
many children are able to name organ systems of particular animals, they are less able to explain
how breathing works. These patterns were more pronounced among Slovakian children than Turkish
children. Considering that new, constructivist approach application in Turkey can be responsible
for these differences, we propose that further experimental research in this field is necessary. More-
over, little is known about how construtivist approach is effective in the elimination of children’s
alternative conceptions of animals. At present, we cannot be sure whether constructivist approach
per se, or other cultural differences can be responsible for better mean scores in Turkish children.
With regard to educational practise, teachers should be aware of children’s conceptions of animal
breathing system. Using problem based learning and practical works with demostrations (e.g. with
the use of computer softwares) of how animals breathe would be very benefitial for children in
terms of developing correct conceptions of animal biology.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank to Professor Joel J. Mintzes for his discussions about research instru-
ment used in this tudy.
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Wandersee, J. H., Mintzes, J. J., & Novak, J. D. (1994). Research on alternative conceptions in science. In D.
Gabel (Ed.), Handbook of research on science teaching and learning (pp. 177-210). New York: Macmillan.
White, R. T., & Gunstone, R. F. (1994). Probing understanding. London: Falmer Press.
Wu, Y-T., & Tsai, C-C. (2005). Effects of constructivistorientedinstruction on elementary school students’-
cognitive structures. Journal of Biological Education, 39(3), 113-119.
Yen, C. F., Yao, T. W., & Chiu, Y. C. (2004). Alternative conceptions in animal classification focusing on
ampibians and reptiles: A cross-age study. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2(2),
159-174.
Yip, D. Y. (1998). Identification of misconceptions in novice biology teachers and remedial strategies for
improving biology learning. International Journal of Science Education, 20(4), 461-477.
Žoldošová, K., & Prokop, P. (2007). Primary pupils’ preconceptions about child prenatal development.
Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 3(3), 239-246.
206
CULTURAL COMPARISON
(P. 182-190)
Appendix A. Example of one task from the questionnaire used in this study. The same instruction
was used for examining children’s ideas about breathing of all eight animals. For more
details about instruction see methods.
Received 27 August 2009;

accepted 10 December 2009
Pavol Prokop Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Education,

Trnava University, Priemyselna 4, 91843 Trnava and Researcher at the
Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9,
84606 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Phone: 421 033 5512485.
E-mail: pavol.prokop@savba.sk
Website: http://www.zoosav.sk/prokop
Muhammet Usak Assistant Professor in the Department of Science Education, Faculty
of Education, Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey.
E-mail: musaktr@gmail.com & musaktr@dpu.edu.tr
Website: http://www.musaktr.com
Murat Özel Ph.D. Student in the Department of Science Education, Gazi University,
Ankara, Turkey.
E-mail: muratozel@gazi.edu.tr
Website: http://www.gazi.edu.tr/
Jana Fančovičová Lecturer Assistant in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Education,
Trnava University, Priemyselna 4, 91843 Trnava, Slovakia.
E-mail: jfanka@pobox.sk
Website: http://www.truni.sk/
207
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Vol.8, No.

Published since 2002

ISSN 1648–3898 © Scientific Methodical Center „Scientia Educologica“ /Lithuania/,

THE RELEVANT ASPECTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION HUMANIZATION

THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY PROCESS IN IMPROVING THE MISCONCEPTIONS OF

ATTITUDES SCALE TOWARDS “NANO TECHNOLOGY” FOR CHEMISTRY TEACHERS

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS GRAPHS

A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO THE REPRESENTATION OF LIGHT FOR FIVE-,

CHILDREN’S CONCEPTIONS OF ANIMAL BREATHING: A CROSS – AGE AND

INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

DiVAI 2010. DISTANCE LEARNING IN APPLIED INFORMATICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

THE RELEVANT ASPECTS OF NATURAL SCIENCE EDUCATION

Pre-eminently the humanization of natural science education means the raise of

animals (demonstration, preparation, etc.);

Aramavičiūtė, V. (1996). Dvasingumas ir meilė. Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia, T.3, p. 67-85.

Aykut Emre Bozdoğan Abstract. In this paper, the effects of uni-

Murat Demirbaş versity experiences in improving the mis-

The aim of the study

The model of the research

The findings regarding the answers given to the definitions of displacement,

1st Year 4th Year

Not same as velocity, velocity is scalar, speed is vector.

The findings regarding the quantities of displacement, distance,

1st Year 4th Year

The Findings Regarding the Operational Questions about Displacement, Distance,

1st Year 4th Year

a) What is the total displacement of What is the total distance covered by

120 km/h X 0.5 h = 60 km (north) 120 km/h X 0.5 h = 60 km (north)

Received 12 December 2008; accepted 27 August 2009.

Aykut Emre Assistant Professor, Giresun University, Faculty of Education,

Abstract. The aim of the study is to

Development of the assessment tool

Developing attitude items

Presenting the items developed to field experts

Validity analysis of the scale

Table 1. The Scale of attitudes towards nano technology.

6. Teaching nano technology at schools makes sense to me.

15. I enjoy following the articles on nano technology in the media.

a) Bartlett test of Sphericity:

b) Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) sampling adequacy criterion:

Table 2. KMO and Bartlett’s test results.

Determination of the number of factors

Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

1 5,19 32.49 32.49 2,62 16.38 16.38

Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

10 ,58 3.59 87.22

16 ,17 1.07 100.00

Figure 1. Line graph of factor analysis.

Common variance of the variables

Table 4. Common variance table.

Initial Extraction Initial Extraction

S1 1,000 ,73 S11 1,000 ,59

Table 5. Rotated component matrix results.

Findings related to the reliability analysis of the assessment tool

Received 29 March 2009; accepted 03 September 2009.

Nilgün Seçken Assist. Prof. Dr. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education,

Abstract. This study examined Frackson Mumba,

Levels of attitude towards graphs

Table 1. Means on effort aspect of attitude.

E1. I complete all my graph assignments. 4.63 0.52

Table 2. Means on value aspect of attitude.

*V7. Graphs are worthless in understanding today’s World 4.32 0.74

Table 3. Means on cognitive competence aspect of attitude.

*C5. I have trouble understanding graphs 4.19 0.77

Table 4. Means on affect aspect of attitude.

A3. I like graphs. 3.75 0.89