Conceptualization of core concepts in electricity by physical science teachers

Abstract

Electricity is one of the sections of physics in which students encounter difficulties. One of the main causes of this difficulty is that some teachers' own understanding of electricity is lacking. In fact, some teachers harbor misconceptions in electricity and transmit them to students. The study was aimed at probing into science teachers' conceptualization of core concepts in electricity and identify gaps and problems in their understanding. The empirical survey was conducted amongst a group of 32 science teachers registered for a Higher Diploma in Science Education in the SEDIBA Project at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. The investigation was done by means of a pre- and a post-test. The results of both the pre- and the post-tests were used to analyze the gaps and problems in teachers' understanding. These results indicated that teachers had problems in the understanding of electricity prior to instruction in electricity in the SEDIBA Project. Intervention by instruction resulted in improvement in teachers' understanding of concepts in electricity. Misconceptions and general problems encountered by teachers in the understanding of electricity were identified in the investigation.