2018 Volume 42 Issue 4 Pages 391-406
In this study, we developed the Moon Phases Concept Inventory (MPCI) and conducted a research of college and tenth grade students. The result of this analysis shows their understanding about the moon phases and movement of the earth and the moon.
The MPCI includes five parts: No. 1 “the direction of revolution and rotation of the earth”, No. 2 “the speed of revolution and rotation of the earth”, No. 3 “the direction of revolution and rotation of the Moon”, No. 4 “the speed of revolution and rotation of the moon”, and No. 5 “the culmination time and the phases of the moon”.
The results are as follows.
(1) There was no significant difference between college and tenth grade students.
(2) The percentage of correct answers of No. 1 was 63%, No. 2 was 27%, No. 3 was 20%, No. 4 was 1%, and No. 5 was 1%.
(3) Students had pre-conceptions about “the speed of revolution of the moon”, “the speed of rotation of the moon”, and “the direction the sunlight travels”.
(4) 10.4% of all participants understood the relationship between “the positional relationship of the earth, the moon and the sun” and “the culmination time of the moon” and “the moon phases”.
