The Impact of Secondary School Students' Preconceptions on the Evolution of Their Mental Models of the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming

Autor/inn/en	Reinfried, Sibylle; Tempelmann, Sebastian
Titel	The Impact of Secondary School Students' Preconceptions on the Evolution of Their Mental Models of the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 36 (2014) 2, S.304-333 (30 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2013.773598
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Secondary School Students; Climate; Scientific Concepts; Cognitive Structures; Concept Formation; Prior Learning; Qualitative Research; Interviews; Content Analysis; Secondary School Science; Science Instruction; Freehand Drawing; Video Technology; Switzerland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Sekundarschüler; Klima; Cognitive structure; Kognitive Struktur; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Vorkenntnisse; Qualitative Forschung; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Inhaltsanalyse; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Drawing; Zeichnen; Schweiz
Abstract	This paper provides a video-based learning process study that investigates the kinds of mental models of the atmospheric greenhouse effect 13-year-old learners have and how these mental models change with a learning environment, which is optimised in regard to instructional psychology. The objective of this explorative study was to observe and analyse the learners' learning pathways according to their previous knowledge in detail and to understand the mental model formation processes associated with them more precisely. For the analysis of the learning pathways, drawings, texts, video and interview transcripts from 12 students were studied using qualitative methods. The learning pathways pursued by the learners significantly depend on their domain-specific previous knowledge. The learners' preconceptions could be typified based on specific characteristics, whereby three preconception types could be formed. The "isolated pieces of knowledge" type of learners, who have very little or no previous knowledge about the greenhouse effect, build new mental models that are close to the target model. "Reduced heat output" type of learners, who have previous knowledge that indicates compliances with central ideas of the normative model, reconstruct their knowledge by reorganising and interpreting their existing knowledge structures. "Increasing heat input" type of learners, whose previous knowledge consists of subjective worldly knowledge, which has a greater personal explanatory value than the information from the learning environment, have more difficulties changing their mental models. They have to fundamentally reconstruct their mental models. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10