The Conceptual Development of Elementary School Students’ Understanding of Electromagnetism: Effects of Different Structures of Science Curricula

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different structures of elementary school science curricula on the development of elementary school students’ concept formation and understanding of electromagnetism. On the basis of the comparison, the following findings were obtained in two investigations of students’ conceptual understanding carried out under the implementation of the revised courses of study in 1968 or 1989. (1) Although the correct answer rates of present students were generally lower than those of twenty years ago, the gaps were not large. And there was no remarkable difference in their answer selection patterns according to their grade levels. It was considered that these results were not due to any difference in the concept formation routes of the students but to the difference in their attainment levels in the same route. The influence of the sequence of curricula on their concept formation was not found to be macroscopically significant. However, short period changes appeared in the answer selection patterns of the students in the grades that underwent content revision. (2) We found that the experiences of present students had decreased qualitatively and quantitatively. Since discernment and classification activities in the early basic stage of learning were emphasized less than before, the ability of students to conceptualize had not developed adequately. In regard to this point, the influence of the scope of the curriculum on concept formation was considered to be large.