Investigation of 9th grade students' conceptual development process about heat and temperature

11 ABSTRACT In this study, it has been wanted to explore the 9th grade students' process of conceptual development about "heat and tempeture" which is subject included in secondary school physics curriculum in Turkey and to show the effects of the concepts of "matter and it's properties" on the process of conceptual development. How the concepts of "heat and tempeture" are generated by a learner, how the conceptual frameworks are developted on cognitive structure, how these alternative frameworks applied cohorently across a wide range of overlopping contexts and became a persistent over time are the purposes to be investigated. Through these purposes; concept circule, concept categorization and various questions were developted. These representations were given to twelve 9th graders in Ihlara Çok Programlı Lisesi in Ihlara Town, Güzelyurt in the province of Aksaray. Analysis of the documents which are obtained from the study has showed that students will be able to have explanatory alternative frameworks, provide explanation for phenomena by using alternative frameworks and use these on process. Key Words : Conceptual development and alternative frameworks Number of Pages : 353 Adviser : Associate Prof. Dr. Bilal GÜNEŞ