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A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY ON THE SUCCESS OF THE PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS REGARDING THE MOON AND ITS MOVEMENTS

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Abstract (2. Language): 
The objective of this study was to examine the changes in pre-service Science teachers’ achievements and alternative concepts about the moves, phases and eclipses of the Moon in terms of their year of study. The study was conducted with 306 pre-service Science teachers (in their first, second, third and fourth year of study) studying at a university in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Moon Achievement Test (MAT) was used as data collection tool. One factor variance analysis (One-Way Anova) technique was used for independent groups in data analysis in order to find out whether pre-service teachers’ achievements in concepts about the “Moon” differed in terms of their year of study. In addition, question by question analysis was conducted in order to find out pre-service teachers’ alternative concepts about the Moon. Data analysis showed that year of study did not have an influence on preservice teachers’ achievements in concepts about the Moon. In addition, it was found that pre-service teachers had some alternative concepts and as their year of study advanced, these concepts did not change much. Some of these alternative concepts are: “the Moon will be in the full moon phase during the Solar eclipse”, “Solar eclipse will occur in Sun-Earth-Moon cycle”, “phases of the Moon will be new moon-first quarter-last quarter-full moon”, “a full rotation of the Moon around the Earth will last for 1 day or 1 year”. In line with these results, it was recommended for institutions educating Science teachers to revise their Astronomy lesson.
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