Analysis of the Conceptual Understanding of In-service and Pre-service Earth Science Teachers about 'Stellar Evolution'

This study analyzes the conceptual understanding of in-service and pre-service earth science teachers about the H-R diagrams and evolution of stars using conceptual status analysis categories. The results show that (a) many teachers use unscientific language in the Intelligibility range, (b) teachers are categorized in Low scientific inquiry ability related to graph creation and unscientific analogy for scientific concept which is hightly corelated to the possibility of misunderstanding in the teaching process, and (c) pre-service teachers lack the understanding of the secondary science curriculum. It is necessary to develop pre-service curriculum that can be applied to the school site. In the category of Plausibility range, (d) both groups understood the cosmological meaning of stellar evolution. However, pre-service teachers do not specifically explain the mechanism of a star. In the category of Fruitfulness range, in-service teachers come up with educational problems reflecting the academic characteristics of earth science and apply their knowledge to actual problem solving. On the other hand, pre-service teachers show high nonresponse ratio, they do not see the H-R diagram and the evolution of stars as a practical concept. In the analysis process, both groups are found to have many unscientific conceptions about the H-R diagram and evolution of stars. Therefore, it is suggested that caution be used in developing a professional development program of earth science teachers.