Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In this study, teacher students' understanding of the carbon cycle and the misconceptions concerning the subject were studied.Emphasis of the study was students' holistic understanding and their ability to modify their knowledge structures in a short period of time.The data was collected at the University of Jyväskylä in spring 2006 and comprised of 85 teacher students' answers to open questions.The students wrote and drew their conceptions in two separate phases in order to give information concerning both their preconceptions and their ability to obtain and adapt to new information.Scientific and false conceptions were then calculated to form eight levels of system thinking regarding the understanding of the carbon cycle.Every student was placed to these levels two separate times based on the two phases of answering.The most important result of the study was that the teacher students do not have a holistic understanding of the carbon cycle.In addition it was observed that certain fields of the carbon cycle such as photosynthesis, cellular respiration and decomposition are associated with several misconceptions.In many cases the students could not change their conceptions to scientific even after obtaining information of the subject.Understanding the big picture would require more detailed knowledge of the different fields of carbon cycle and finding the connections between these fields.In order to teach the subject the teachers should independently get more information and actively organize their knowledge on the matter.
Author: Hanna Svanberg
Language: Finnish
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2246307346