Abstract
This study was performed by giving an astronomy survey to fifth grade, eighth grade and introductory physics college students. A survey was developed with carefully selected “distracters,” common alternative conceptions that, combined with the phrasing of the question, are used to bring out the students‟ actual conceptions of the topics being probed: phases of the Moon, the tilt of the Earth‟s axis and the apparent movement of the sun and stars across the sky, and distances to various celestial objects in the solar system. Through the use of this survey, several alternate conceptions and the relative strength and resiliency of those alternative conceptions were discovered. Also, by examining the data, we determined which demographic factors affected susceptibility to these alternative conceptions. With the results from this study, new curricula and teaching strategies can be formed to address these alternative conceptions.