THE EFFECTS OF SIMULATION-BASED AND MODEL-BASED EDUCATION ON THE TRANSFER OF TEACHING WITH REGARD TO MOON PHASES

Several researchers have investigated the knowledge of the causes of moon phases and how to promote the scientific understanding of these phases. However, these scholars did not determine whether this learning was transferred to the following education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two different types of education on the transfer of learning with regard to astronomy content. No significant change in the understanding of the moon's phases was observed between the groups, but a significant change in the transfer scores of the groups was observed. This result could indicate that the education increased the participants' understanding of moon phases and that the participants in the simulation group were able to more adequately transfer their knowledge. The alternative conceptions of the causes of the moon phases were transferred to the context of the earth's phases. In other words, alternative conceptions are transferred to new learning situations. Therefore, the alternative conceptions that the participants hold should be carefully observed when new learning is transferred.