Analysis Of Students' Conceptions About The Phenomenon Of Plate Tectonics

In high school, the concept of the phenomenon of plate tectonics is considered as a basic construction in the understanding of the geology. Based on the conviction that conceptions are a major focus in the teaching-learning process, making a diagnostic of representations of students about the phenomenon of plate tectonics is essential. The target population is a group of students all belonging to the science section at the last year in high school, and we use the questionnaire as a working tool. The results obtained during this project allowed us to highlight the following conclusions: center dot Students assemble conceptions that are influenced by their socio-cultural and religious surroundings in order to explain geological phenomena and especially phenomena related to plate tectonics. center dot Students use a reductionist approach in their explanations, which confirms our research hypothesis on barriers that can be created in relation to the concept of prior-knowledge. center dot Several conceptions were located through this study: students confuse several concepts. Hence, such process generates several obstacles and subsequently hinders the assimilation of concepts related to plate tectonics. . Some students still keep conceptions they had before learning about the concept of plate tectonics in junior-high school. Thus, our second assumption may be valid and teaching in this case is based on cheer copying which favours a momentary learning that will soon be forgotten. Concept evaluation remains a fundamental tool so that to comprehend the origin of the obstacles faced by students while their learning of the concept of plate tectonics. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.