A Case Study Using "Opposing Ideas" Regarding the Expansion of Air : In the "Quantity and Temperature of Air" Unit in Fourth Grade Elementary School

Abstract

This case study investigated how the use of "Opposing Ideas" in science lessons influences children's naive concepts and metacognitive monitoring in lessons for the "expansion of air" unit in the fourth grade of elementary school. In the study, "Opposing Ideas," which represent children's naive concepts and scientific concepts, were used as metacognitive tools to help monitor the learners' thoughts. The findings of this case study were as follows: (1) The use of "Opposing Ideas" in a setting that made children aware of their naive concepts possibly promoted the occurrence of conceptual conflicts in many children who had mistaken ideas regarding the expansion of air; (2) The use of "Opposing Ideas" after demonstrating an experiment which supported scientific concepts became an opportunity for children to modify their own mistaken ideas regarding the expansion of air; (3) The use of "Opposing Ideas" before conducting these experiments caused monitoring regarding the expansion of air to occur in many children when conducting the experiments.