The conceptual understanding levels of secondary school students about astronomy

When educators examine students' thoughts on science subjects, they argue that their conceptual knowledge is sometimes insufficient and there are misconceptions about astronomy subjects. The aim of this study is to determine secondary school fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students' conceptual understanding levels about astronomy in science lessons. Determining the levels of conceptual understanding in astronomy subjects with the conceptual understanding test and examining the misconceptions that may occur at each grade level of secondary school students at the same time make this research important. The study group of the research consists of 25 fifth grade, 30 sixth grade, 37 seventh grade and 35 eighth grade students studying in a secondary school in Balıkesir province located in the western region in the spring semester of 2021-2022 academic year. The research model is in the descriptive survey model, which provides a detailed description of the existing situation. Conceptual understanding tests were applied separately to each class consisting of open-ended questions prepared in accordance with the achievements of astronomy subjects in the science curriculum. The obtained data were analyzed qualitatively by scoring with a rubric. As a result of the research, it was determined that the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students had misconceptions about astronomy in the science course. In this study, it is predicted that determining the conceptual understanding levels of the students will contribute to the preparation of the teaching plans in a way that will eliminate the misconceptions.