Changes in Children's Answers to Open Questions about the Earth and Gravity

Table 1

Children’s knowledge about the Earth and gravity during four assessments.

	First grade	Second grade	Third grade	Fourth grade	𝜂^2
	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Number of facts	1.92 (0.80)^a	2.11 (0.71)^b	2.43 (0.66)^c	2.67 (0.56)^d	.24
Avoid answering	0.16 (0.39)^a	0.11 (0.31)^a	0.10 (0.30)^a	0.08 (0.30)^a	.01
Descriptions	0.67 (0.79)^a	0.78 (0.69)^a	0.16 (0.43)^b	0.11 (0.33)^b	.29
incorrect generalizations	1.36 (0.80)^a	1.03 (0.63)^b	1.09 (0.77)^b	0.82 (0.64)^c	.10
Scientific answers	0.77 (0.81)^a	1.04 (0.95)^b	1.66 (0.86)^c	2.02 (0.70)^d	.42

The pairs with the same superscript letters do not differ significantly (𝑃>.05) based on ANOVA post hoc (Bonferroni corrected) paired comparisons.