Mental models of day and night concepts of primary school fourth grade students

The research was conducted to reveal the mental models of the fourth grade primary school students regarding the concepts of night and day. In this context, a descriptive research was conducted using the scanning model. The "Night and Day Formation Mental Pattern Determination Test", which was formed by the data and consisting of 6 open questions, was collected. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. The data obtained were grouped according to the categories of "No Understanding", "Misunderstanding", "Incomplete Understanding", "Partly Scientific Understanding" and "Scientific Understanding". When the findings are evaluated; It is seen that 23.31% of the students have a scientific level of understanding about the formation of night and day. However, it was determined that the majority of the students could not fully understand how this situation occurred. Except for a very few students, it is seen that most students have the level of knowledge to perceive the movements of the sun. It is seen that students have problems in perceiving the movements of the world in the formation of night and day. In addition, it is seen that students have deficiencies and misunderstandings in drawing the formation of night and day. This situation shows that students have conceptual misconceptions about the positions of the earth and the sun in the formation of night and day. These results reveal that students have problems in terms of visual comprehension levels in the formation of night and day. According to this situation, it is seen that the mental model structure of the students about the movements of the world mostly has the verbal dominant model coded mental model, and the rest have partially incompatible model and partially scientific model. Students mostly comprehend world movements verbally, they have conceptual perception problems in visual sense. For this reason, teachers can eliminate the misconceptions in the minds of students by making certain drawings while creating a teaching environment on the formation of night and day. Students' perceptions can be shaped by visiting out-of-school learning environments such as the observatory and planetarium. KEYWORDS:Science Education, Astronomy Education, Misconceptions, Mental Models