Investigating Science Student Teachers’ Ideas about Function and Anatomical Form of Two Human Sensory Organs, the Eye and the Ear

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine science student teachers' level of knowledge about the anatomical structure of two sensory organs, the eye and the ear, in addition to vision and hearing processes. Conducted with 86 science student teachers, research utilized drawing methods and open-ended questions as data collection instruments. The results showed that when science student teachers' answers with regard to vision and its structures compared with their answers concerning hearing and its structures, their success rate was higher for hearing and its structures. Even though students were sufficiently informed about the anatomical structures constituting eyes and ears, it was observed that a significant percentage of the students were incompetent with regard to their understanding of how seeing and hearing takes place and correctly showing the anatomical structures constituting both eyes and ears on a schema. Human organ/organ system education may contribute to an increase in teaching capacity.

A functional model of the cochlea

“…This includes wave propagation in all three media, resonance effects, impedance matching and basic properties of wave motion such as its polarization. We refer to [13,14] for detailed descriptions of the ear.…”