A Study on the Characteristics of Identifying Cardinal Direction in the Introductory Stages of Elementary School Science Curriculum

Abstract

We have researched third and fourth grade elementary school pupils’ identification of cardinal directions in astronomy lessons at the early stage of elementary school science education / learning. The research attempts to track pupils’ ability to identify cardinal direction learned in their third year with a follow-up questionnaire and performance test at the start of ‘the Moon and Stars’ unit in their fourth year. The third grade lessons had included mastering the knowledge of the four cardinal directions; namely north, south, west and east, and the outdoor drill of identifying directions. Consequently, 50% of pupils in the fourth grade class, seven months after their third grade lessons could not correctly identify directions; while in third grade, 70% of the same pupils had identified the directions correctly. It was clarified that the identification was not easy for the pupils and that many of them have been frequently confused about choosing the direction corresponding to right-hand-side and/or left-hand-side, whereas they easily chose the directions correspond to their front and/or backside.