Answer:
Explanation:Understandably, students have a strong tendency to interpret reality only according to the way it is perceived from their own perspective. This has implications for their understandings of ideas that represent objects on a very large scale like the solar system. They observe the world from their own place on a very small region of the Earth. They often find it difficult to comprehend distances in the order of their own country and consequently larger distances like those involved with the solar system are often unimaginable for them. In addition, students observe motion from their own point of reference. In order to understand the motion of the sun and Earth they must imagine a different point of reference. This can make ideas in this area very challenging for students to grasp.
Research: Nussbaum (1985)
The views held by students about the shape of the Earth are varied and often unique to the individual. Even though students can often articulate that the Earth is a sphere, upon further investigation they often believe in fact that the Earth is how they perceive it, flat. Some children view the Earth as round or circular as opposed to spherical (see diagram 1 below). Another common view is of the Earth as flat and that it and the air form a sphere (see diagram 2 below). Students can often represent the Earth as a sphere (or circle on the plane of the paper) but they still perceive the person on the top of the sphere as the upright person (see diagram 3 below).
Diagram 1:
The view is that the Earth is a circular disc floating in the atmosphere. A person standing on a flat horizontal circular disk.
Diagram 2:
The view that the air and Earth form equal hemispheres and the observer is located centrally. A person standing on a hemisphere representing the ground.
Diagram 3: