Pre-Service Teachers’ Scientific Explanations of Evaporation: A Deductive Analysis of Causal Reasoning Levels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46328/ijses.5655Keywords:
Scientific explanation, Pre-service teachers, Causal reasoning, Deductive analysisAbstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the levels of causal reasoning in pre-service elementary teachers’ scientific explanations of the evaporation phenomenon. A case study approach was adopted and a total of fourteen first-year university students enrolled in a primary teacher education program at a state university in Turkey. Individual interviews were conducted with students who volunteered, and each student was asked to explain why spilled water on a table dries up over time. Students’ explanations were analyzed deductively based on a coding framework adapted from Braaten and Windschitl. The results indicated that while students can identify and describe the observable aspects of evaporation, they struggle to articulate a comprehensive scientific explanation that addresses the underlying causal mechanisms at a molecular or theoretical level. The findings highlighted the need for instructional strategies at middle and high school levels that explicitly target the development of scientific reasoning skills, especially those that help students link macroscopic observations to molecular-level processes and integrate these with established scientific theories.
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