Development of a four-tier test to determine high school students' misconception about plant seed

Teachers teach plant concepts such as seeds, while students have difficulty in learning. In this study, it was aimed to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool in order to determine the misconceptions of high school 12th grade students about seeds. For this purpose, a four-stage multiple choice seed concept diagnosis test was developed for 12th grade high school students. The sub-objective of the study was to determine the percentages of misconceptions, scientific knowledge and lack of knowledge of 12th grade high school students about seeds, on the basis of sub-dimensions, with the concept diagnosis test for which validity and reliability analyzes were made. In this study, the scanning method, which is one of the descriptive studies, was used. The study group consists of 409 12th grade students randomly selected from two private and six public schools. The developed test was applied to 12th grade students studying in the Ereğli district of Konya province in the 2022-2023 academic year. Various validity and reliability analyzes were performed on the data obtained as a result of the application. In the last case, it was determined that the four-stage seed concept diagnosis test consisted of 11 questions and had a 3-factor structure. As a result of the analyzes made, it has been understood that this test is valid and reliable. Factor 1 was named as "Physiology of Seed", Factor 2 as "Relationship of Seed and Reproduction" and Factor 3 as "Relationship of Seed and Classification". It was determined that the highest average of scientific knowledge of the students was under the factor of "Seed and Classification Relation", the highest average of misconceptions was under the factor of "Seed and Reproductive Relationship" and the highest average of lack of knowledge was under the factor of "Seed and Classification Relation". The four-stage seed concept diagnosis test, which was developed within the scope of this research and whose validity and reliability analyzes were performed, aims to determine the misconceptions of 12th grade high school students about the concept of seed. It is thought that this test will contribute to the literature and will be used by teachers and researchers to detect high school students' misconceptions about seeds, and therefore it will be a pioneer in similar studies.