Preservice teachers’ and teachers’ conceptions of energy and their ability to predict pupils’ level of understanding

Abstract

The study examined (a) the extent to which teachers and preservice teachers understand the concept of energy and adhere to particular preconceptions associated with it; and (b) their ability to predict pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the same concept. Teachers and preservice teachers completed a test by indicating for each item what their response was and what an average sixth-grade pupil’s response might have been, and their predictions were compared to actual pupil performance. Results indicated that teachers’ and preservice teachers’ understanding of the concept was far from complete, and that teachers were, in general, more likely to overestimate pupils’ knowledge.