Development of the Preconception of the Primary School Pupils
Experience with the Research up to Now
Kateřina Korcová
Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research Post Graduate and New Researcher Pre-Conference, University of Geneva, 11 September 2006
Abstract
The contribution shows our experiences with research of pupil’s understandings of human digestive system. We also present experiences from reports about approaches in researches made in the past, which were aimed, to similar subject.
Key words
Drawing of digestive system, the subject human digestive system, pupil in the third class of primary school, examples of pupils’ drawings.
Introduction
The research project, part of which I am going to present here, is concerned with the development of preconceptions about the human digestive system, of pupils in the third class at primary school. Inspiration was drawn from studies directed at the research of the human digestive system or human organ systems, respectively, done before (Pupala, Osuská 1997; Reiss, Tunnicliffe, 2001).
This research, aimed at the development of the concept of the human digestive system in a group of pupils of the same age, has three phases in the course of a school half-year – before explaining the subject matter, immediately after that and again at least 6 weeks after the explanation – depending on the teacher’s concept of schooling. The object is to find if the teacher’s concept of schooling influences the time the pupils are able to keep the topic of the human digestive system in mind.
In this paper there will be presented only our experience with the process of the research into the change of the children’s preconceptions and the influence of the teacher’s concept will be mentioned just marginally, together with the examples of the pupils’ works.
Methodology
The main research methods are observation of the teaching unit for determining the influence of the teacher’s concept of schooling upon the durability of the preconception, and analysis of the result of the pupils’ works – drawing, in this instance – for determining the change in the pupil’s preconception. Another method is a questionare, used as a complementary method for observation.
Pupala and Osuská (1997) who provided with certain methodological inspiration were examining the concept of the human digestive system among children aged 5 to 14. For the data capture they used a drawing supported with the shape of a human body, and a discussion. The aim of the research was to detect the developmental tendencies in the formation of the children’s implicit understanding of the structure and function of the human digestive system.
It was also the research of Reiss and Tunnicliffe that contributed to the decision about the method of analysing the pupil’s drawing. They studied the preconceptions of all the human organ systems among pupils and students aged between 4 and 20. Their research method was drawing only and that even without the shape of human body. The task then was to draw “what is inside us”. The aim was to find out how the pupils and students at various stages of education understand the human organs and organ systems.
Drawing of the digestive system
It was found out in researches connected with the structure of the human body but also in those aimed at examining preconceptions of other topics that drawing is a very effective method when studying the preconceptions, especially with younger pupils who prefer drawing to written expression. Reiss and Tunnicliffe (2001) point out particularly the better accessibility of this method for pupils who are not equipped linguistically well enough to be able to describe – either orally or in writing – what they imagine. Another plus of the drawing, mentioned also by Pupala and Osuská (1997), is the relative possibility to obtain sample drawing from a great number of pupils, whereas the discussion – used in their research as well – is more time consuming. Therefore in their research, for example, the discussion was used only with 34 pupils out of 206.
We decided on the drawing with an optional choice of a written commentary. Many pupils made use of this. By the chance to supplement the drawing with a description they overcame the subjective feeling of inability to draw their notion and coped also with the ignorance of the individual organs’ shape.
The most expedient for finding out the preconception seemed – from several standpoints – the use of a working sheet where there was written the assignment: “Draw the journey of food in our body.” and an outline of a human figure in which they were supposed to draw their image (Pic. No. 1). This solved the basic problem presented in the research of Reiss and Tunnincliffe who gave to the respondents only a blank sheet of paper. They were confronted with a number of objections that the pupils and students are not able to draw a human figure. Still other merit of the given approach related to the pupils’ lower ability to draw a figure big enough to sketch in it is that all the figures are of equal size. Pupils are thus made to think of the proportionality of the individual parts in the digestive system owing to the size of the body and it is easier for us then to interpret the pictures.
For the research it was necessary to find out whether the working sheet with the assignment corresponds to the abilities of the pupils participating in the research. The working sheet was piloted while going over the digestive system in a class, which was not included in the research later on. The pupils were assigned the task exactly according to the supposed instructions that were inspired by the science textbook for the 3rd year at the primary school from the Portál publishing company (Vyskočilová, 1995). It emerged that a pupil in the 3rd year of primary school is able to fill in such a working sheet.
The data capture was done through the science teachers. The pupils were supposed not to be prepared for the topic of human digestive system in advance. It was only the teacher’s decision whether to tell the children that they are part of a research project. The task was planned in a way that it would not take the pupils more than ten minutes. They were allowed to draw with anything they like to draw with – crayons, pencil or pen. If they wished to describe what they had drawn, it was allowed as well. They were given free hand in the concept of the picture. Everything they drew was correct. The teachers were not supposed to interfere in the picture or give clues to pupils who felt uncertain.
Under similar instructions two more working sheets were filled in. The second one was set at the end of the lesson in which the subject matter of the human digestive system was gone over. At this moment all the pupils knew they are a part of a research project because there was an observer sitting in the class who they were drawing the pictures for.
After an interval of a minimum of six weeks the pupils were asked again, this time without the researcher’s presence, to fill in the working sheet following the same instructions as in the first case.
Topic of the human digestive system
The choice of the topic was influenced, among others, by the fact that in this case it is possible to consider the existence of preconceptions minimally impacted by the school education. As Pupala and Osuská (1997) affirm, everyone is experienced with the digestive system since early childhood. In their research they even assumed that due to their extensive experience with the digestive system the pupils would have their own notion suppressed. This assumption did not prove true, though. After evaluation of their research, Reiss and Tunnicliffe (2001) found out that the digestive system as a whole is represented in more than 20% of the drawings of the responding pupils and students, which is the most of all the eight bodily systems they had divided the human body at. The topic of the human digestive system was chosen for our research also because of the supposed extensive experience the pupils would have with this very system.
Research sample
As a research sample there were selected pupils of the 3rd year of primary school. The reason for that was on the one hand the content of the science classes – in the 3rd year one can already talk about systematical composition of the given subject matter, the subject is gone over in a greater detail – on the other hand, from the developmental point of view one does not need to think of the outside influence on acquiring knowledge. Pupils in their 3rd year also seemed to be suitable because of their greater independence compared to the younger classes and their limited technical knowledge compared to the older years of the primary school.
Whereas in the 1st and 2nd class of the primary school the science classes subject matter is directed more at the social roles, possibly at the outer parts of the human body, in the 3rd year we can already talk of a biological perspective on the human being. According to the curriculum of the educational programme Základní škola (“The Primary School”; 2001), within the human biology framework the 3rd year pupil should – by the end of the school year – know how to “determine the basic parts of human body, including the most important inner tracts, organs and organ systems, and be well informed about their function.” (Vzdělávací..., 2001. p.102) In how great a detail the subject matter will be dealt with is mainly the issue of the teacher who in many things follows the textbook.
For our purpose it was sufficient to go over only the basic parts of the digestive system, that is oral cavity, gullet, stomach, small and large intestine, and rectum. It was important to draw the pupils’ attention also to the location, which should correspond to the normal structure of the human body. This was successfully done, with one exception when the teacher mixed up the order of the small and large intestine.
The classes were chosen by random from Brno primary schools, namely schools where there was a heightened possibility that the teachers would not say no to the research because of the great interest students have in their school. Therefore the faculty schools of the Faculty of Education and the nearby primary schools were left out, furthermore there were omitted schools with an alternative educational programme due to their possible alternative tematical educational scheme, and small schools with just a few classes.
The decision whether the research would take place in a given class was to be made, above all, by the school board and later also by the teacher. There were cases where the school board refused on its own, refused after consultation with the teachers or even the teachers themselves were giving reasons for not participating in the research (for example, the methods they use are out-of-date, the pupils are not very good at school and therefore there is nothing to survey, the subject matter will be dealt with in June or it has been already gone over).
There were 25 addressed schools in Brno and the total number of 50 third-year classes. 21 of them agreed to partake in the research, but 5 classes fell behind later on for various reasons (e.g. health reasons, after deciding upon the educational scheme it was not convenient for them to go over the subject matter earlier than at the end of the school year or they gave no reason at all for the refusal). The research was thus done in total of 16 third-year classes of Brno primary schools. All the classes follow the educational programme Základní škola and the teachers in question hold the MA degree. None of these classes is focused on natural sciences. The potential number of pupils is 353, though it is necessary to take into account that some of the pupils will not be integrated into the research because they missed one or more of the research stage. Therefore we have not got all their working sheets completed .
Examples of the pupils’ drawings
At the first stage of the research the pupils did not know anything about the human digestive system. Created drawings represented various images the children had about the given subject matter:
- the food ends up in the stomach (Pic. 2)
- the food is all around the body (Pic. 3)
- the digestive system is shaped as a pipe, widen in the middle (Pic. 4)
- almost faithful picture of the digestive system, only with an inaccurate location and shape of the organs (Pic. 5)
At the second stage of the research, that is immediately after going over the subject
matter, we got the picture of what the pupils learned in class. There were drawings where:
- the individual parts of the digestive system corresponded to the real location in the normal human body (Pic. 6)
- there were other organs of the human body that are not parts of the digestive system but they had been talked over in class or there was their picture in the textbook (Pic. 7)
- the individual parts of the digestive system did not correspond to the real location in the normal human body because the teacher had put it wrongly (Pic. 8)
The drawings at the third stage of the research differ from both the first and the second. There is visible a more factual notion of the digestive system compared to the first drawings but there is more inaccuracy than in the second ones. There are then pictures where:
- the individual parts of the digestive system correspond to the real location in the normal human body, as in the second drawings (Pic. 9)
- there are all the parts of the digestive system but in a wrong location or wrongly shaped (Pic. 10)
- some of the parts of the system are missing (Pic. 11)
There is possible to see development in the quality of the individual pupils’ notion of
the human digestive system:
- the first drawing shows the notion of the digestive system as a straight pipe, widen in the middle (Pic. 12)
- the second drawing represents what the pupil learned in class (Pic. 13)
- the third drawing contents only some of the parts of the digestive system – one of the
intestines is missing (Pic. 14)
Conclusion
It is apparent from the examples that the pupils’ notion of the human digestive system develops throughout the individual stages of the research. At the first stage there are pictures that seem to lack any meaning, contenting only the children’s image not affected by the school education. Pictures representing the exact model of reality, or reality presented by the teacher at the second stage reflect what the pupils learned in the class. At the third stage there are pictures that were influenced by the school interference but have lost perfection in the progress.
The presented part of the research reflects the experience drawn from previous studies that became an inspiration mainly for the methodology and the choice of topic of our research. The method of analysis of the pupil’s drawing with the possibility of a commentary proved to be convenient, especially for its easy interpretation.
For further work with this sample of pupils’ papers – the task is to determine the influence of the teacher’s approach to the subject matter on the quality and permanence of the pupils’ preconceptions – there will be important mainly the development of the notion of the individual pupils, also evident at the given sample.
References
GAVORA, P. Žiak kreslí Európu.Pedagogická revue,1992, roč. 44, č. 3, s. 196 – 207. ISSN 1335-1982.
PUPALA, B., OSUSKÁ Ľ. Vývin detských koncepcií o tráviacej sústave a trávení. Psychológia a patopsychológia dieťaťa, 1997, č. 1, s. 35 – 46. ISSN 0555-5574.
REISS, J. M., TUNNICLIFFE, S. D. Students´Understandings of Human Organs and Organs Systems. Research in Science Education, 2001, č. 31, s. 383 – 399.
VYSKOČILOVÁ, E. a kol. Prvouka pro 3. ročník základní i obecné školy. Pozorujeme, ptáme se, poznáváme. Praha: Portál, 1995. ISBN 80-7178-059-6.
Vzdělávací program Základní škola. Praha: Fortuna, 2001. ISBN 80-7168-595-X
Mgr. Kateřina Korcová, Ústav pedagogických věd, Filozofická fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, A. Nováka 1, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic, e-mail:
Pictures:
- Working sheet
Draw how the food goes through our body.
Pic. 1
- First stage of the research
Pic. 2 /
Pic. 3
Pic. 4 /
Pic. 5
- Second stage of the research
Pic. 6 /
Pic. 7
Pic. 8
- Third stage of the research
Pic. 9 /
Pic. 10
Pic. 11
5. Development of the preconception of a single pupil
Pic. 12 /
Pic. 13
Pic. 14
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