An investigation of the 8th grade students' misconceptions about solid and liquid pressure according to cognitive styles

With this study, it was aimed to investigate the possible relationship between the cognitive style tendencies of eighth grade students and their misconceptions about solid and fluid pressure. The research was designed according to the relational scanning model, one of the general scanning models. The sample of the study consists of 254 students (134 girls, 120 boys) studying at the 8th grade in five secondary schools in Beypazarı district of Ankara. Two branches of the 8th grade in each secondary school were randomly selected. The research was applied in the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The Group Embedded Figures Test was used as a data collection tool to determine students' cognitive style tendencies, and the Solid and Liquid Pressure Concept Test was used to determine their misconceptions of solid and liquid pressure. Solid and Liquid Pressure Concept Test was prepared according to the objectives of the pressure unit. MANOVA technique was used to analyze the data. As a result of the findings obtained from the research; the cognitive styles of the students were determined, and the percentages of their misconceptions about solid and fluid pressure were determined. It was observed that there was a statistically significant difference in favor of the independent cognitive styles in terms of students' cognitive styles and their misconceptions about solid and fluid pressure. The findings of the study were interpreted by comparing them with similar studies in the literature.