Journal of Education and Psychology

Abstract

There were four purposes for the present study. The first one was to invetigate Taiwanese first and second graders’ scientific problems in daily life. The second purpose was to explore how those students solved their problems. The third purpose was to analyze students’ reasoning patterns according to the problems raised by them; and the last purpose was to explore the patterns of students’ misconceptions.

The data collected in the present study were based on classroom discussions and interviews. There were 440 first and second graders participating in the present study. 6279 problems are raised by them. Within those problems, 50 problems were repeatedly raised by every school’s students, and 78 problems were raised over 10 times. There are no significant differences on the number of students’ problems on the factor of the students’ grade or of the location of the school.

The results reveal that the first and second graders are most interested in problems regarding biology (33.7%) or physics (21.1%). They raised even fewer problems concerning chemistry (4.7%). Also students are concerned with technology problems. The objects or events mentioned often by students are listed in the research results.

Regarding the issue of students’ reasoning patterns, it seems that students tend to raise problems according to the following cues: temporal and spatial contiguity (58.7%), observation of similarity or difference between events (14.3%), origination (12.2%), and generative relations (7.5%). There are also no significant differences of the reasoning patterns on the factor of the students’ grade or of the location of the school. In addition to the reasoning patterns, some of students’ misconceptions reveal their preconceptions about natural phenomena.

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