Pupils’ understanding of mammals: an investigation of the cognitive dimension of misconceptions
Pupils’ understanding of mammals: an investigation of the cognitive dimension of misconceptions

Summary/Abstract: The investigation of misconceptions among children is a favorite kind of investigation among researchers. It is possible to meet with the term “cognitive dimension of preconcept”. Misconceptions about animals have been reported in various research reports on pupils of different ages. This cross-age study is focused on finding misconceptions about mammals among elementary-school children of various ages (from 10 to 15). A questionnaire consisting of 35 multiple choice and open-ended questions was used. This questionnaire was administered to 468 children from 6 elementary schools. We divided the questionnaire items into five categories according to their character. We focused on finding the differences in results between the gender and age of the respondents. We found numerous misconceptions across all age groups. Our study provides implications for teaching biology/science especially in the field of zoology.

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