• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.367-373
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• 2003

The focus of this study was to identify and describe environmental preconceptions held by pre-service elementary teachers about three issues : greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and acid rain. Two hundred and twenty nine pre-service elementary teachers participated in this study. A 36 question survey was created by one of the authors. The questions focused on the cause, effects, and interactions of three environmental issues greenhouse effect of one layer depletion and acid rain. Pre-service elementary teachers answered the questions on a Likert scale. An analysis of the survey data indicated that the majority of pre-service elementary teachers possess an array of incorrect conceptions about the causes and effects of the greenhouse effect ozone layer depletion, and acid rain. and also many pre-service elementary teachers thought that there were causal relationships among the increase in greenhouse effect, the destruction of ozone layer, and the increase of acid rain.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.650-663
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• 2013

Multidimensional scaling can be used to identify relationships among concepts, revealing the structure of the cognitive framework by measuring distances within perceptual maps. The current study sought to examine the relationships among concepts related to photosynthesis in 2,844 $3^{rd}-11^{th}$ grade science students. The questionnaire included items on 'location,' 'products,' 'reactants,' and 'environmental factors', presenting images related to each theme. Students provided responses corresponding to particular topics, and reported the extent to which the concept was related to the topic on a scale from 1 to 30. The survey results were as follows: first, students were not able to clearly distinguish between or understand the four main topics. Second, students organized their cognitive structures by closely associating related concepts after learning. Third, the presented concepts revealed a mixture of scientific and non-scientific concepts, suggesting that students needed to clearly distinguish the preconceptions through which they organized concepts, so that they are suitable for cognitive structures based on learning. Furthermore, non-scientific concepts within perceptions were consistently maintained throughout learning, affecting the proximity of scientific concepts.