Effect of The Active Participated Material Development Process on Prospective Science Teachers' Conceptual Understanding: Some Astronomy Subjects

The aim of this study is to examine the active participated material development process (APMDP) on the conceptual understanding of prospective science teachers (PSTs) on astronomy topics. The study was carried out according to the pre-experimental research method, one of the experimental research methods. The study group consists of 27 third-grade PSTs at a state university in the Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Astronomy Concept Test (ACT) and Astronomical Statements Table (AST) were used as data collection tools. The data collection tools were applied to PSTs twice, at the beginning of the APMDP as pre-test and at the end of the APMDP as post-test. In the APMDP, PSTs prepared concept map, knowledge map, mind map and concept cartoons according to the gains of the “The Solar System and Beyond” unit at the elementary school 7th grade science curriculum. The quantitative data obtained were analyzed using the paired samples t-test in the SPSS 23.00 package program. The statistical results obtained from the pre-test and post-test scores indicate that there is a significant difference in favor of the post-test. It has been found that the APMDP is effective in providing conceptual understanding of PST