DOI: 10.17522/balikesirnef.1801916 ISSN: 1307-6086

Identifying Middle School Students’ Alternative Conceptions of Basic Astronomy Concepts Through Score Analysis

İlyas Acet, Mehmet Altan Kurnaz
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This study aims to identify fifth-grade students’ alternative conceptions regarding basic astronomy concepts such as the Sun, Earth, and Moon. The research employed a survey model, and a multiple-choice achievement test developed by Sontay and Karamustafaoğlu (2020) was used as the data collection tool. The study group consisted of 173 students studying in public middle schools in the Western Black Sea Region of Türkiye. Student responses were analyzed based on score values (S) and concentration factor (C), and the response patterns were categorized using Bao’s (1999) model analysis method. The findings revealed that students were more successful in topics related to the properties and motions of the Moon. However, they exhibited learning deficiencies in areas such as comparing the sizes of celestial bodies, understanding the structure of the Sun, and the formation of day and night. It was observed that the most common response pattern among students was "MM", indicating that their answers were concentrated on two options, one of which was correct. Particularly, students gave random answers when comparing the relative sizes of the Sun and Earth within the size-matching task. These results underscore the importance of developing instructional strategies targeting the change of alternative conceptions and supporting astronomy topics with real-life contexts. The study contributes by identifying specific areas of conceptual difficulty, thereby informing the design of targeted instructional interventions in science education.

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