EFFECT OF INSTRUCTION ON 1 st GRADERS' THINKING PATTERNS REGARDING THE DESCRIPTION OF WATER WITH EVERY DAY AND SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS 1

In this paper we focus on the question how the 1 graders’ everyday concepts change on the effect of instruction planned on the basis of the Rostock Model, and especially how the everyday and scientific concepts connect with each other. We used knowledge space theory to explore the connections among the ‘everyday’ and ‘scientific’ concepts regarding the 1 graders’ description of water, and to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the characteristic models of the pupils’ thinking patterns in describing water with everyday and scientific concepts? (2) Is there any change in the pupils’ thinking patterns during their instruction? Our research shows that the teaching unit planned on the basis of the Rostock Model has significant effect on the 1 graders' thinking patterns in describing water with everyday and scientific conceptions. The best model for the representation of children's cognitive structure regarding the water contains only everyday concepts before the teaching unit. After the instruction this model changes into models containing both everyday and scientific conception, however these concepts are either totally separated from each other or scientific conception is built on the everyday conception. However in pupils’ thinking patterns the ‘particle’ has two meanings: particle with macroscopic properties or particle in the continuous substance. Because of the lack of the formal thinking in pupils’ mind we could not find the 'scientifically preferable' model to be a good model for representation of children’s thinking patterns.

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