Pupils’ Explanations of Natural Phenomena and Their Relationship to Electricity

Ibtesam Azaiza, Varda Bar, Yaser Awad, Mahmood Khalil

Science Education Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
The College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education, Sakhnin, Israel.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2012.38198                

Abstract

Changes in pupils’ views concerning natural phenomena, some of which are related to electricity, were investigated. Inclusion of phenomena not related to electricity was used, to find out to what extent pupils of elementary school attribute these phenomena to electricity. The participants were elementary school pupils coming from a traditional population of a village in the Galilee. The sample contained 60 pupils from the fourth grade (aged 9 - 10). The pupils were questioned before and after receiving instruction, and the same pupils were also questioned at the beginning and end of the sixth grade (aged 11 - 12), following a second period of instruction. Qualitative explanations of the pupils show changes during age. Results show development from mostly mechanical explanations at ages 9 - 10 to preference of electrical explanations and wide use of concepts related to electricity at age 11, such as current, electrical charges, or electrons. Previous research and the results of this paper lead to a suggestion of a new approach to electricity instruction in elementary schools.

Keywords

Natural Phenomena Explanations; Elementary School; Electricity; Nature of Science

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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