Even though the educational researchers have developed and implemented various educational strategies to teach the concepts of the phases of the Moon and the formation of the lunar eclipse more effectively, many studies conducted by them in recent years reveal that the teachers still do not understand the causes and scientific processes related to…

The purpose of this study was to determine Turkish primary teacher candidates' conceptual understandings of gases. In this study, a survey approach was used. The sample consisted of 240 primary teacher candidates. As the data collection tool, a questionnaire of six questions consisting of three open-ended and three multiple choice was used. The…

Experience and intuition may help explain everyday phenomena. However, physics concepts cannot be induced directly from them. Learning physics requires an examination of the ideas of scientifically constructed theoretical frameworks, explaining coherently organized physics concepts. This research examined student teachers' physics knowledge in…

In this study, Turkish prospective elementary science teachers' understanding of photosynthesis and cellular respiration has been analysed within the contexts of ecosystem knowledge, organism knowledge and interconnection knowledge (IK). In the analysis, concept maps developed by 74 prospective teachers were used. The study was carried out with…

The purpose of this study is to reveal preservice science teachers' perceptions related to the sun, star, comet and constellation concepts. The research was carried out by 56 preservice science teachers (4th grade) at Kastamonu University taking astronomy course in 2014-2015 academic year. For data collection open-ended questions that required…

The purpose of this study was to explore Pre-service Elementary Science Teachers' (PSTs) conceptual understanding of Particulate Nature of Matter (PNM) through a three-tier diagnostic test. Participants were 215 PSTs from Turkey. Data consisted of participants' responses to the Particulate Nature of Matter Test (PNMT). The PNMT consists of…

This study investigated pre-service science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in the physics, chemistry, and biology topics. These topics were the light and sound, the physical and chemical changes, and reproduction, growth, and evolution. Qualitative research design was utilized. Data were collected from 33 pre-service science teachers…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the prospective teachers' ability to write context-based problems about the concepts in radioactivity unit. Methodology: The study is carried out in a university in Turkey with 21 prospective teachers in physics, chemistry and biology in 2014-2015 fall terms. In the study, data are collected…

The goal of this study was to investigate Turkish science and mathematics teacher candidates' levels of attainment in chemical literacy. These candidates had all studied the new Turkish chemistry curriculum in high school. The sample of the study consisted of 112 students, who were first-year students in the Department of Secondary Science and…

The purpose of this study was to a) investigate prospective physics teachers' views on their knowledge about new physics concepts introduced in Turkish High School Physics Curricula; b) investigate the sources of their acquired knowledge about these new physics concepts; and c) explore if there were differences in views on knowledge about these…

This study aimed at identifying prospective chemistry teachers' misconceptions of colligative properties. In order to fulfill this aim, a diagnostic test composed of four open-ended questions was used. The test was administered to seventy-eight prospective chemistry teachers just before qualifying to teaching in secondary schools. Nine different…

The superposition principle is used to explain many phenomena in physics. Incomplete knowledge about this topic at a basic level leads to physics students having problems in the future. As long as prospective physics teachers have difficulties in the subject, it is inevitable that high school students will have the same difficulties. The aim of…