Previous research show that young children’s perceptions of the day/night cycle is based on everyday experiences and are therefore often inaccurate, such as the belief that the earth is flat or that the Moon is equal to night whereas the Sun equals day and disappears behind mountains during night. The following synthesis maps out common misperceptions about, and what characterizes young pupil’s theories about the day/night cycle and furthermore what role education comes to play in regard of developing these misconceptions. This systematic review is based on a question formulation including two questions; what characterizes middle school-student's conceptions about the earth’s rotation around its axis in regard of the day/night cycle, and how do these misconceptions change by means of education? To answer these questions, previous research articles were searched for and systematically reviewed with the assistance of the database ERIC. To narrow down the results given from the database, the search was limited to peer reviewed-only and a criterion was set up to match our question formulation. These criteria, apart from peer reviewed-only, were; middle school students, day/night cycle and earth’s rotation. Given these criteria, a total of 12 articles were eligible in regard of the questions asked. Results showed that young pupils tend to take on a topocentric perspective when explaining the day/night cycle in prior to education, meaning that the earth is flat and day falls where the sun’s rays hit and night falls where the moon is seen. In this perspective, the earth is stationary whereas the sun rotates. Furthermore, older pupils tend to take on a heliocentric model, meaning a more accurate perception that the earth rotates around its axis whereas the sun and the moon are stationary. In conclusion, prior to education, young children take on a topocentric model of the earth whereas after education a more accurate, geocentric perception is acquired. Nyckelord Dag och natt, jordens rotation, barns uppfattningar, karaktärisering, undervisning, astronomi
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:liu-173533 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Varblane, Petra, Eriksson, Love |
| Publisher | Linköpings universitet, Avdelningen för lärande, estetik och naturvetenskap, Linköpings universitet, Utbildningsvetenskap, Linköpings universitet, Avdelningen för lärande, estetik och naturvetenskap, Linköpings universitet, Utbildningsvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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