Students' ability of transferring their conception of evaporration to different contexts

The study aimed to investigate whether fourth and fifth graders utilize the concept of evaporation in solving differing problem situations they encounter in science and technology classrooms or to investigate students' achievement level in using it. A total of 37 selected students from different schools participated in our research. The concept of evaporation, which was probed through our questions, was presented by the teacher just as it was described in the curriculum and the students were taught all aspects of it.Individual interviews were conducted in order to gather data. In the interviews, the students received open-ended questions on the causes of the coolness we feel after taking a bath, the reasons for the coolness we feel after putting cologne on our hands, the reasons why a slice of watermelon cools down after being left in the Sun, why cats lick their fur in order to cool down, and why dogs keep their tongue outside their mouth. In the interviews, there were no time limit anda leading provided by the interviewer. The interviews were first transcribed and later analyzed via coding. The results indicated that even though possessing an understanding of the concept of the evaporation, the students were notable to effectively use it in divergent problem situations and they seemed not being able to transfer their understanding in solving those problems. To illustrate, when asked why dog keep their tongue outside their mouth, none of the students who participated in our study was able to see the linkage between this phenomenon and the concept of evaporation.