Primary students' misconceptions about the world and the universe

The purpose of the current study is to determine the primary school students' misconceptions about the basic astronomy (The Sun, The World and The Moon) and to analyze how these misconceptions vary depending on variables such as gender and grade level. The participants of the current study are 42 primary school attending a state primary school in the Ortaköy province of the city of Aksaray in 2014-2015 school year. The current study was conducted on the basis of phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods. The data of the study were collected through the drawing method. In the analysis of the data, both qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques were employed. The collected quantitative data were evaluated by means of SPSS 15.0 for Windows program package. The qualitative data of the study were analyzed by using the interpretive content analysis technique. Percentages (%) and frequencies (f) were used as descriptive statistics to determine which elements they included in their drawings. It was found that totally ten elements were included in the students' drawings. In addition to the elements of the world (92.85%), the planet (76.19%), the cloud (9.52%), the sun (78.57%), the star (95.23%), the rainbow (2.38%), the moon (66.66%); the human being (78.57%), the alien (4.76%) and the space craft (95.23%) were also included in their drawings. In the analysis of the qualitative data, it was found that there are two themes in the drawings; 'The Theme of a Single World' and 'The Theme of Two Worlds'. Within the theme of a single world, the students produced drawings scientifically closer to the reality. Within the theme of two worlds, the students included two worlds; one of which is the world as a heavenly body and the other one is the world (the Earth) in which they are living. In this theme, the depictions are a bit distant from the scientific reality. It was also investigated whether the students' perceptions of the world and the universe vary significantly depending on gender and grade level variables. For this purpose, Chi-Square Independence Test was administered. The results of this test revealed that while there is no significant relationship between the students' misconceptions about the world and the universe and their gender and grade level, with increasing grade level, the students' scientific information also increases. It was also found that the students have limited information about the world and the universe. Key Words 1. Drawing Technique 2. The World and The Universe 3. Concept 4. Misconceptions 5. Basic Astronomical Concepts