Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary student teachers' conceptions about the mechanism of the greenhouse effect, the greenhouse gases, the global warming, and their learning experiences of the greenhouse effect and the global warming. Participants were 82 student teachers in their second year of studies (science education: n=28, not science education: n=27) and in their fourth year of studies (science education: n=27). The open-ended questionnaire was used to examine the teachers' spontaneous ideas depicted by their drawings and/or writings. The results of this study are as follows: First, the student teachers' scientific response rate about key concepts related to the mechanism of the greenhouse effect was low (6.1%~28.0%); Second, although there are various greenhouse gases, it was only carbon dioxide that the student teacher's response rate was more than 80%; Third, only 17.1% of the student teachers clearly distinguished the greenhouse effect and the global warming; Fourth, there was a tendency that the student teacher group in the fourth year of studies and science education showed higher scientific response rate about the concepts than the other two groups.

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