To what extent do primary school children understand photosynthesis?: a study of children’s drawings with follow-up interviews

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate primary school children’s understanding of photosynthesis. We employed children’s drawings as an instrument and conducted one-to-one follow-up interviews with 48 children of primary school age (7–13 years old) in a national primary school, in a suburban area of Melaka, Malaysia. The findings of the study indicate that as children progressed through primary school, their understanding of the concept of photosynthesis improved. The study sheds light on the varying levels of conceptual understanding of photosynthesis among primary school children and how this can inform the teaching strategies of science teachers to facilitate children’s understanding of this concept. In addition, this study makes a valuable contribution to research on biology education by demonstrating that using drawings as a research instrument alone is insufficient to fully capture young children’s conceptual understanding.