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http://dx.doi.org/10.15267/keses.2022.41.1.150

Elementary School Students' Understanding of Matter and its Examples  

Lim, Heejun (Gyeongin National University of Education)
Publication Information
Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education / v.41, no.1, 2022 , pp. 150-161 More about this Journal
Abstract
Matter is a basic concept that students should understand during their science classes. However, many difficulties are associated with understanding the concepts of matter due to its abstraction. In this study, the elementary school students' understanding of the concept of matter and the examples of matter and non-matter are investigated and analyzed by grade. The subjects of this study were 418 students from third grade to sixth grade. The survey was conducted using a free-response questionnaire comprising three questions. The results are as follows. First, the elementary school students' conceptions of matter were "materials that make up objects," "what can be seen and touched," and "solid, liquid, and gas." As the grade increased, the explanations for a material decreased and the explanations for the state of matter increased. Furthermore, only few students explained matter in terms of mass and volume. Second, solids were the most common examples of matter presented by the students, and liquids and gases were included in the upper grades. However, there were many cases in the upper grades where students were unable to distinguish between objects and matter. Third, non-matter was properly presented by the 6th graders as compared to the other graders, and in many cases, objects, liquids, and gases were mentioned as non-matter. Fourth, it was found that the students' conceptions of matter influenced the examples of matter and non-matter that they presented.
Keywords
matter; students' understanding; material; non-matter; state of matter; object;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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