An examination of third and fourth graders' conceptual development on the concept of evaporation

The present study aimed to investigate elementary students' conceptual development. Accordingly, the students participated in a course on evaporation and their prior and posterior knowledge about the conception of evaporation were monitored periodically. A total of 18 students, of whom 6 were 3rd graders and 12 were 4th ones, participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students: one before the course, one right after the course, and three further times; 1 week, 2 weeks, and 9 months later. All the interviews were videotaped and the videotapes were then transcribed and thereafter analyzed. A content analysis technique was utilized and all the students' utterances were coded. The results indicated that students had not completely abandoned their prior knowledge about evaporation; rather, they seemed to explain the phenomenon operating both their prior and posterior knowledge.