CHANGE! IS PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL?: THE ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES, JUSTIFICATIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGE

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine knowledge structures, justification skills and misconceptions about physical and chemical change concepts of participating middle school 7th grade students. The study is a qualitative research and exhibits a phenomenological (phenomenological) approach. The study was carried out in the medium scale province in the Black Sea Region in 2015. A total of 21 (11 male, 10 female students) middle school 7th grade students from different schools participated in the study. The data of the study were collected using a semi-structured interview technique in the context of experimental samples prepared by the researchers. According to the findings of the study, the participant students exhibited consistent and inconsistent cognitive structure. It was determined that the justifications of the participants changed according to the questions and they had the misconceptions about the physical and chemical changes.