Secondary school students' interpretation of gravitational force

The aim of this study is to investigate secondary school students? perception of the gravitational force and the relationships among these perceptions.In this investigation, data were collected by using the survey method. The questions prepared for data collection, took their final form by the pilot application. The measurement tool consisting of 5 questions was applied to 101 secondary school students. The application was conducted at the second period of the Education ?Year 2008-2009.The Analysis of the obtained data was conducted by using the content analysis method. The Coding was done by the investigator. The incidence of the codes is counted. The categories and Sub-Categories were determined out of the codes.In conclusion, 55 codes, 11 subcategories and 8 categories were determined. Upon the examination of these categories, it was determined that the students interpreted `gravity? and `weight? as different physical concepts, some students had such wrong perceptions as objects with larger masses would pull the objects with smaller masses with a bigger force in the case of objects with different masses. It was also determined that the students used many different descriptions for the same physical condition related to the gravitational force a "Mass Gravity?, ?Mass Attraction Force?, ?Keppler?s Law?, `Gravity?, `Gravitational Force of the Earth?, The Universal Law of Gravity?