Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lessons introduced Dolton’s idea and motion of particles on elementary school students' thinking about particle distribution of atmosphere. The subjects of the study were 114 students in the 6th grade of elementary school. Especially, we investigated whether the students' thinking about the distribution of atmosphere depends on the height scale after the lessons. As a result of the study, the students were classified into two types: the lightweight particles and heavy particles separated from each other into a mass as fluids, and the other type in which particles having different masses are mixed with each other. In the pre-test, the higher the atmospheric height, the stronger the idea that the atmosphere exists as a mass. However, after the lessons, the thoughts of masses were reduced, and the idea that a mixture of different particles existed increased at higher atmosphere scales. Many students thought that the particles with different masses would distribute heterogeneously according to height, but after the lessons, students changed their thoughts to homogeneously in the case of classroom and 10km. However, the students’ thoughts of heterogeneous distribution of atmosphere increased in the case of 100km and1000km. When students considered the distribution of particles in the atmosphere, their thoughts related to gravity and temperature concepts were increased after the lessons, and the thoughts related to weight and pressure were decreased. The elementary school students, on the other hand, had thoughts that their breathing affected the distribution of the atmosphere. This is a characteristic of elementary school students who understand the world around themselves.