Abstract:

Rainfall is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth. Thus, an appropriate understanding of the mechanism of rainwater is needed for an accurate comprehension of one of the most important natural phenomena included in school curricula, i.e. the water cycle. This study examines the conceptual understanding and misconceptions of the mechanisms of rainfall and its integration into the water cycle among the final course of primary education (11-12 years old) and the first course of secondary education (12-13 years old) school students by means of two different experimental procedures: drawings and semi-opened questions. Data collected is analysed and categorized into different levels of conceptual understanding. The sample study comprises 246 children from 4 different schools located in the Basque Country (Spain). The preliminary analysis of drawings and questionnaire based approaches reflects that conceptual understanding about the mechanism of rainfall is higher in secondary school students. These students include more elements and processes related to water cycle in their drawings and questionnaire answers, and fewer misconceptions are detected on their responses. Overall, although conclusions drawn by both techniques (drawings and questionnaires) are quite similar, in this particular case questionnaires provide a better diagnosis of children’s conceptual knowledge of water cycle. However, the use of both techniques simultaneously is advised for a comprehensive study of students' perceptions and misconceptions about mechanisms of rainfall.

Keywords:

science education, rainfall, cognitive development, elementary and middle level education, water cycle, misconception, atmospheric phenomena.