Students' conception on sizes and distances of the Earth -Moon- Sun models

Abstract

Students' sense of size and scale is one of the most important concepts to understand science, especially in the concepts that really big or small to be seen (e.g. planet system, atomic model). For learning Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, the models both 2D and 3D are really important for helping students understand about their relative sizes, orbits, and phenomenon (e.g. day-night cycle, eclipse). However, the models could not make size and scale of the objects so accurate that might lead to the misconceptions about their sizes and scales. In this study, student's conception on sizes and distances of the Earth - Moon - Sun (EMS) model both 2D and 3D were explored by a questionnaire and interview. The results indicated that most of secondary school students have no idea about sizes and distance of EMS models. Students both underestimate and overestimate about the distances, and overestimated about the sizes. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2012.