An Analysis of Learning Progression of Science High School Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Size and Scale Concepts

Abstract

The issue of “size and scale” is considered as the first among the nine most important topics fornanoscience education. The aim of this study is to examine the learning progression of Science High School 9th,10th and 11th grade students’ conceptual understanding of size and scale concepts. The total of 70 students at9th,10th and 11th grade levels in a public Science High School consisted the sample of the study. As data gatheringtools a word association test and a Size and Scale Concepts Test were used. The data obtained from the tests wereused to determine the level of associating knowledge acquired from the science courses (chemistry, physics andbiology) with the size and scale concepts. The results showed that 11th grade students are more aware of andaccomplished better than the others on the size and scale concepts. Although the Science High School students getintensive science and mathematics training the level of achievement on the concepts of size and scale was foundto be low. It is thought that by including the issue of “size and scale” within the titles of the science courses suchas chemistry, physics and biology will help to better understand not only the science subjects but also the size andscale concepts.