Development of appropriate digital material to cope with primary school students' conceptions about the greenhouse phenomenon and the way it affects the weather conditions of a region

This study detected primary students' conceptions about the greenhouse effect and how this phenomenon affects the weather in a region, in order to develop an educational package with appropriate digital and printed material aiming to cope with students' empirical conceptions and learning difficulties. In total, 52 4th grade students from Magnesia region, Greece, took part in the research study. Initially, the students answered an initial questionnaire with 10 multiple choice and open-ended questions. Data research showed that students did not know what the greenhouse effect is, what its causes are and they could not realize how it can affect the weather conditions of a region. These outcomes were used for the design and development of the educational package, which was implemented within a constructivist and collaborative learning environment in primary schools. During the experimental teaching students worked on the computer in small groups of 2-3 persons with a complex simulation, which aimed to help them improve their understanding about the greenhouse effect, the global warming and the way these phenomena affect the weather of our planet. More specifically, they observed the route of the sun beams in the atmosphere, distinguished the sources that produce the greenhouse effect gases (e.g. factories, cars, deforestation, etc.), discussed about the way these gases block some of the reflected sun beams and realized how this procedure leads to global warming. By the end of the activity students discussed in the whole class and came to conclusions about how the greenhouse effect can affect the weather conditions and as a sequence the climate of a region. After this experimental teaching, students answered a post-test questionnaire, which was the same as the initial one. The results showed that the new constructivist and collaborative learning environment helped them to create proper mental representations about the phenomena they studied. © Common Ground, Vassiliki Pilatou, Dimitrios Marinopoulos, Christina Solomonidou