Optical Phenomena in the Atmosphere: Questionnaire Results of High School Students' Knowledge and Understanding

摘要

Studies on students' conceptions in optics have revealed insufficient scientific understanding and knowledge about different optical phenomena. In this paper we present a selection of questionnaire student results about optical phenomena in the atmosphere collected among 96 high school students from Sarajevo. This is a small contribution related to the world wide celebration of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015) which gives an enormous importance of light in the nature and daily life. It is found that students showed misconceptions as well as poor information and knowledge about several optical phenomena that were subjects of the 14 questionnaire questions. Two textbooks recommended by school administration were also analyzed according to their contents and usefulness for student learning. Several suggestions based on both the students' answers and researchers'recommendations are given for a possible physics curriculum improvement, as well as for textbook authors and physics teachers' in class activities.