Approaching conceptual change in the teaching and learning of mechanical and solar energy with 6th grade primary school children in Greece

This is an inquiry into 6th grade primary school children&s;s conceptions about aspects of mechanical and solar energy and their change within a context of teaching interventions. The main focus is to provide insights into a particular teaching and learning environment throughout a certain period of time and to understand and describe aspects of conceptual change about mechanical and solar energy with 11–12 year-old children in a primary science classroom in Greece. Theoretical underpinnings of this inquiry lie upon a phenomenographic research approach and a developmental design moves within the Model of Educational Reconstruction , seen through a practitioner-researcher point of view. Sixteen (16) out of a total of thirty five (35) children have been interviewed before and after teaching interventions on mechanical and solar energy. Additional data collection techniques have been used for methodological triangulation purposes, such as: concept maps, concept cartoons and children&s;s writing.