ERIC Number: EJ1028620
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-0693
EISSN: N/A
Understanding the Greenhouse Effect by Embodiment--Analysing and Using Students' and Scientists' Conceptual Resources
Niebert, Kai; Gropengießer, Harald
International Journal of Science Education, v36 n2 p277-303 2014
Over the last 20 years, science education studies have reported that there are very different understandings among students of science regarding the key aspects of climate change. We used the cognitive linguistic framework of experientialism to shed new light on this valuable pool of studies to identify the conceptual resources of understanding climate change. In our study, we interviewed 35 secondary school students on their understanding of the greenhouse effect and analysed the conceptions of climate scientists as drawn from textbooks and research reports. We analysed all data by metaphor analysis and qualitative content analysis to gain insight into students' and scientists' resources for understanding. In our analysis, we found that students and scientists refer to the same schemata to understand the greenhouse effect. We categorised their conceptions into three different principles the conceptions are based on: warming by more input, warming by less output, and warming by a new equilibrium. By interrelating students' and scientists' conceptions, we identified the students' learning demand: First, our students were afforded with experiences regarding the interactions of electromagnetic radiation and CO2. Second, our students reflected about the experience-based schemata they use as source domains for metaphorical understanding of the greenhouse effect. By uncovering the--mostly unconscious--deployed schemata, we gave students access to their source domains. We implemented these teaching guidelines in interventions and evaluated them in teaching experiments to develop evidence-based and theory-guided learning activities on the greenhouse effect.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Scientists, Climate, Scientific Concepts, Interviews, Content Analysis, Qualitative Research, Schemata (Cognition), Concept Formation, Experience, Figurative Language, Comparative Analysis, Learning Activities, Science Instruction, Secondary School Science, Instructional Effectiveness, Misconceptions
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A