A case study of what experiences contribute to the ideas of energy held by primary school students in Trinidad and Tobago.

摘要

This case study explored what experiences contribute to the ideas of energy held by 30 purposively selected primary school students from one primary school in Trinidad and Tobago. The study used the Interview About Events (IAE) approach to explore students’ ideas about energy and further to reveal what experiences may have led to them having these ideas. During the IAE exercise, flashcards of events and items were shown to students to prompt responses which were used to initiate a semi structured interview. The findings showed that students ideas were as a result of many different experiences but that these experiences could be grouped into one of three categories: hearsay experiences, incomplete understandings, classroom experiences.