This study investigated students' alternative conceptions of plate boundaries and their conception revision according to the pattern of students' reasoning. Participants were twenty-two 10th grade high school students. All participants were asked to draw the three types of plate boundaries and to explain their drawings. Nine students participated in the reasoning activity. To this end, a semi-structured interview was conducted during which key questions were asked for the students to individually answer. The key questions used in the reasoning activity were created, by utilizing questions used in the previous studies. The findings revealed that the alternative conceptions of plate boundaries were classified into three levels based on established criteria. Students who attempted a variety of reasoning strategies such as causal reasoning, using an analogy, abductive reasoning, data reconstruction and concept combination, revised their alternative conception to a scientific conception after the reasoning activity. On the other hand, some students could not revise their alternative conceptions because they only conducted an incomplete reasoning strategy. The study also found that they were unable to use other reasoning strategies, either.

 Abstract  Introduction  Methodology   Participants   Procedures   Data Analysis  Results and Discussion   Different Levels of Alternative Conceptions regarding Plate Boundaries   Case study; revision of alternative conceptions after the reasoning activity  Conclusion and Implications  References

• Park, Su-Kyeong(Department of Science Education, Kyungnam University)