Teacher Education Students Misconceptions about General Terms in Science

Studenti Učiteljskoga studija u Splitu imaju širok spektar znanja prirodoslovnoga karaktera. Neke koncepte su formirali na studiju kroz prirodoslovne predmete, dok su im neki poznati od malih nogu kroz osobno iskustvo i uočavanje. Istraživanje je provedeno u svrhu otkrivanja prisutnosti miskoncepata te se htjela ispitati i sigurnost studenata u ponuđene tvrdnje prirodoslovnoga sadržaja. Istraživanje je provedeno na uzorku od 183 studentice i studenta, od 1. do 5. Godine u ak.god 2018./2019. Istraživanje je dalo uvid o kojem sadržajnom području prirodoslovlja studenti najviše znaju, a o kojem najmanje. Studenti Učiteljskoga studija predmet Prirodoslovlje pohađaju na 4. godini, stoga istraživanje je potaknuto hipotezom da će studenti 4. i 5. godine biti bolje upoznati s prirodoslovnim sadržajem te imati manje miskoncepata od studenata 1., 2. i 3. godine. Cilj istraživanja bio je utvrditi imaju li studenti Učiteljskoga studija određene miskoncepte o osnovnim prirodoslovnim pojmovima. Prema dobivenim podatcima istraživanja uočeno je da od 183 studenta Učiteljskoga studija u Splitu prosjek određenosti točnosti tvrdnji na čitavom uzorku je 19,83. Smatra se da su netočni odgovori koje su studenti dali pokazatelj prisutnosti miskoncepata. Od 25 tvrdnji studenti su u prosjeku na njih 5,17 imali razvijene miskoncepte. U svakom od područja prirodoslovlja studenti su imali prisutne miskoncepte. Najmanje miskoncepata je bilo u područjima Priroda i čovjek, Čovjek i Zaštita prirode, a razlog je vjerojatno bliskost tih područja studentima, jer to su spoznaje o nama samima i o okolišu u kojem živimo, dok su tvrdnje iz područja Biljke, Kemija i Fizika potvrdile postojanje značajno veće prisutnosti miskoncepata kod studenata. Studenti 4. i 5. godine Učiteljskoga studija u Splitu imali su manje miskoncepata u svim ispitivanim prirodoslovnim područjima i bili su sigurniji u točnost svojih odgovora za razliku od studenata 1., 2. i 3. godine. Razlog tomu može biti veći broj odslušanih prirodoslovnih predmeta na zadnje dvije godine studija. Provedena anketa i analiza dobivenih rezultata je potvrdila prisutnost miskoncepata o osnovnim prirodoslovnim pojmovima među studentima Učiteljskog studija u Splitu. Što ranije lociranje i postupna eliminacija miskoncepata, uz provjerene edukacijske materijale i metode trebala bi umanjiti njihovu prisutnost među studentima.Students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Teacher Education department in Split have a vast knowledge of science. They have formed some concepts during their studies and science courses, whereas they find other concepts familiar, thanks to their personal experiences and perception from their childhood onward. The research was conducted with the aim of discovering misconceptions and examining the certainty the students have regarding specific statements. The research was conducted on 183 students, male and female, attending all years of study − from the 1st to the 5th year – in the academic year 2018/2019. The research gave us insight in which area of science the students are most and least familiar with. Teacher Education students take the Science course during their 4th year of studies, so the research was inspired by the hypothesis that the 4th and 5th year students will have a better knowledge of the matter and have fewer misconceptions than their 1st, 2nd and 3rd year colleagues. The aim of the research was to determine whether Teacher Education students have certain misconceptions within the basic science knowledge. According to the research results, on the sample of 183 Teacher Education students, the average correctness of statements was 19.83. It is considered that the wrong answers the students gave are an indicator of the presence of misconceptions. Out of 25 statements, students had misconceptions about 5.17 statements on average. Misconceptions were present in all areas of Science. The least number of misconceptions was related to Nature and Society, Man and Nature protection. This is because these notions are close to students; these notions are about ourselves and about our environment. On the other hand, a significantly bigger number of misconceptions was present in the areas of Plants, Chemistry and Physics. The 4th and 5th year Teacher Education students had fewer misconceptions in all tested science areas and were more certain in the correctness of their answers, unlike the 1th, 2nd and 3rd year students. The reason for this might be that there are more science courses in the last two years of their studies. The conducted survey and analysis of obtained results confirmed the presence of misconceptions in basic science areas of Teacher Education students in Split. The earlier we locate and gradually eliminate misconceptions, together with approved educational materials, the less their presence among the students will be