2021 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 109-117
The main purpose of this study is to understand 5th grade elementary school students’ comprehension of the heart function. This study was conducted by the free-form questionnaire method. The main findings of this study were as follows: 1) Less than 5% of the children explained the heart function scientifically and correctly (i.e. their explanations included a total of 3 propositions related to “heartbeat”, “blood outflow”, and “blood inflow”); 2) Children’s explanations of the heart function were diverse (scientific explanations about secondary functions associated with heart function were roughly divided into 4 types and non-scientific explanations were roughly divided into 8 types); and 3) Based on these results, we suggest perspectives that are indispensable for helping pupils achieve comprehensive recognition of heart function, and propose teaching and learning strategies consisting of three core propositions.
