Özet:

The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth and the characteristics of the cognitive representations they constructed. A total of 20 Kindergarten children participated in the study (age range 60 to 72 months), including 11 boys and 9 girls. A multi-dimensional interview protocol, developed based on previous studies, was used to collect the study data and children were individually interviewed. Children’s responses were analyzed using the model identification methodology. Results demonstrated that while a large proportion of children had naïve models of the earth, none of the children had synthetic models. Some children had a unique mental model of the earth, doughnut (simit), which is not exhibited by children from US and Western European countries. The findings of this study support the assumption that children’s conceptual understandings of the shape of the earth may be represented as internally consistent mental models.

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