In physics education, a number of studies have developed assessments of teachers' knowledge of student understanding (KSU) of specific physics concepts with modified versions of existing concept inventories, in which teachers were asked to predict the popular incorrect answers from students. The results provide useful but indirect information to…

The purpose of this study is to review the postgraduate theses on science/physics education in Turkey to guide the teaching of the sound concept. Although the theses examined within the scope of this study belong to a certain region, the previous literature shows us that the learning difficulties/misconceptions are generally independent of…

Physics teachers need diagnostic competence to effectively identify students' misconceptions, but studies have yet to sufficiently investigate how this competence can be advanced through various instructional strategies. In this study, we compared a problem-solving strategy against an example-based strategy in advancing diagnostic competence in…

The aim of this research was to conduct a review of studies using four-tier tests to detect misconceptions in physics education. Fifty-eight studies whose main purpose was to develop a four-tier misconception test and eleven studies whose purpose was to determine learners' misconceptions using a four-tier diagnostic test without test development…

Existing research identifying common student ideas about forces focuses on students' misunderstandings, misconceptions, and difficulties. In this paper, we characterize student thinking in terms of resources, framing student thinking as continuous with formal physics. Based on our analysis of 2048 written responses to conceptual questions, we…

While many university health science programs include physics courses to raise knowledge and understanding of physical science concepts, they are still far from addressing the needs of that science health profession. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an introductory physics course on first-year physiotherapy and rehabilitation (PR)…

Alternative conceptions become obstacles in physics. However, it is difficult to find instruments that can identify students' alternative conceptions, especially in gases kinetic theory (DIGaKiT). The purpose of this research was to development of diagnostic instrument of DIGaKiT in identifying students' alternative conceptions by Rasch analysis…

In this study, the aim is to determine pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of the standing wave concept. Pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of the standing wave concept was determined through the phenomenological pattern, and the aim was to lay bare how they made sense of this phenomenon, how they perceived and experienced…

This study investigated how visual attention differed between students who hold scientific knowledge and those who have misconceptions. We analyzed visual fixations of 98 middle students on problems containing information relevant to scientific knowledge and common misconceptions. It showed that students who acquired scientific concepts paid more…

To support the development of more robust conceptual knowledge, it is crucial to understand the alternative conceptions that students bring to the classroom, and how these can be considered and dealt with through instruction. In this study, we report the alternative conceptions of 498 students enrolled in secondary education in Ireland. A…

A detailed investigation of student conceptions of quantum phenomena is needed, both to characterize student understanding of quantum concepts and to inform how we might teach quantum mechanics (QM). In this vein, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 students who majored in physics and received university-level QM…

This article examines the impact of a professional development program aimed at encouraging high school teachers to include more modern physics in their enacted classroom curricula through improved content and pedagogical knowledge. The program was implemented with 17 high school physics teachers (three were the focal point of this study) in…

This research aimed at analyzing student misconceptions about Newton's Laws through Four-Tier Newtonian Test (FTNT). The research involved 30 students (15 boys and 15 girls, whose ages were middling of 16 years-old) at one of Senior High School in Bandung, Indonesia. The data were analyzed through mixed methods. Based on the quantitative analysis,…

Background: Many researchers have investigated student reasoning in Newtonian mechanics. In 1979 Viennot revealed that most students associate the concept of force with the velocity or acceleration of a motion. Forty years later, student understandings remain a major challenge for teachers. The implications of this challenge are still unclear,…

This study explores prospective primary school teachers' misconceptions concerning basic concepts in chemistry. The data was gathered during the years 2012-2016 among first-year primary school teachers in Finland (N = 389). The results show that every year, as many as 40%-80% of teachers share the same kinds of misconceptions as children ages 5-12…