Investigation of elementary school students' conceptual change on the phases of the moon in a collobarative learning environment [İlkögretim ögrencilerinin ay'in evreleri konusunda kavram degişimlerinin işbirligine dayali ortamda incelenmesi]

The purpose of the study is to document 8th grade students' alternative conceptions about the phases of the moon and compare cooperative learning method to traditional instruction in teaching moon's phases. A total of 33 students from 8th grade participated in the study. The data was collected by semi-structured interviews before and after the instructional interventions to detect alternative conceptions about moon's phases. Participants in the cooperative learning group showed a significant increase in their understanding of moon's phases after the instruction. Some additional alternative conceptions which were not previously reported in the literature were presented in the study