Alternative conceptions of high school students about animal classification: Vertebrate animals [Lise öǧrencilerinin hayvanlarin siniflandirilmasi ile ilgili alternatif kavramlari: Omurgali hayvanlar]

The purpose of this study is to elicit high school students' alternative conceptions about general characteristics of animals and classification of vertebrates. it was also aimed to determine of the students' ideas which ground reasons of these alternative conceptions. in the study 127 tenth graders and 129 eleventh graders were selected from four different high schools in erzurum centre. the data was collected through interviews and animal classification test (act) which had both multiple-choice and open ended questions. the act was developed by the researcher and kr-20 reliability was calculated as 0,69. the students were required to determine and mark the classis and phylum of animals in the pictures in the act. semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten students at each educational level (with 20 students in total) to probe the students' original conceptions which were ground reasons of their answers to act. the results of the study showed that,high school students had many alternative conceptions about general characteristics of animals and classification of vertebrates. when the students had classified the animals,they took into account their external structures,habitats,nutrition and movement types and functional similarities of their organs. that was,students had used analogical approaches which were based on empirical classification criterions. furthermore,disharmonies between daily speech and scientific terminology caused to development of alternative conceptions.