Determination of the concept images of 6th and 7th grade students towards the earth and universe learning area: Taboo game

The aim of this study is to determine the concept images of the 6th and 7th grade students of secondary school on the subjects and concepts of the Earth and the Universe learning area with the help of the taboo game and to determine the students' views on the taboo game. The phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group of the study consists of 215 students, 69 girls, and 54 boys in the 6th grade, 50 girls and 42 boys in the 7th grade, from a central school in Tokat in 2019-2020. The study group was formed by using the appropriate sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods. Two different data collection tools were used in the study. The first of these is the taboo cards used to determine students' concept images. The second data collection tool is the questionnaire form, which consists of 3 open-ended questions, prepared by the researcher to determine the students' views on the taboo game. While the Taboo game was played with all of the students in the study group, the questionnaire form was applied to 92 randomly selected students from the study group. Taboo cards used in the game of taboo were adapted and applied by taking expert opinion and the opinion of two science teachers who made the application. In order for the students to adapt to the taboo game, the teacher of the lesson applied 4 lesson hours with the taboo cards readily available on the internet on the subjects of force and electricity, which are among the 6th grade subjects of the Science lesson, and on the subjects of work and energy and cell at the 7th grade. Taboo cards, which are used as data collection tools, were prepared by selecting 17 concepts at the 6th grade level and 18 concepts at the 7th grade level from the concepts mentioned in the textbook. Four concepts that scientifically define each concept are given under the concept that should be explained in the taboo card as forbidden words. While the taboo game was being practiced, the class was divided into two groups and a narrator from each group tried to explain the concept written on the taboo card to theviii group friends for two minutes without using the prohibited words. He/she was given two pass rights for concepts he/she thought he/she could not explain. During the game, the expressions of the students were recorded by voice recording, and the data obtained were analyzed by content analysis. The audio recordings recorded during the game were listened to by two independent researchers and the encoding process was performed and the percentage of agreement was found to be 92%. A common result was achieved by reworking the different codes. When the methods of expressing the concepts by students were examined from the data obtained by listening to the audio recordings, it was seen that expressing the concept by using positional information, giving examples about the concept and breaking down the concept came to the fore. When the expression methods are examined, it is seen that the students describe the concepts by using one or two words to remind them rather than describing them. While explaining the concept, the students preferred to explain the concept by using unrelated concepts that would remind the concept. It has been determined that most of the concept image cells of the students for the concept of the Earth and the Universe learning area are either unreasonable or have incorrect definitions. It has been determined that students have concept images regarding some concepts, which can be considered partially correct, but are insufficient in defining the concept. Students preferred not to explain concepts that they had never heard of or could not match with any situation or concept in daily life. The data obtained from the questionnaire form were coded using content analysis and themes were created according to the common aspects of the codes. When the data from the questionnaire was examined, it was seen that the majority of the students found the game of taboo beautiful and instructive, it changed their perspective on the subjects and concepts of the Earth and Universe learning area, and the students wanted the taboo game to be used in other subjects and concepts of the Science course. As a result of this research, the idea that is desired to be emphasized is to reveal the importance of determining the concept images, which include both correct information and misconception, by using the taboo game before the teaching begins.