Assessing Novice Preservice Physics Teachers’ Conceptual Knowledge of Mechanical Waves

Abstract

Current research in physics shows that undergraduate students have poor conceptual knowledge of waves and optics. This research seeks to assess novice preservice physics teachers’ conceptual understanding of mechanical waves using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Year one semester two (Y1,2) preservice physics teachers in a university in Uganda were exposed to a standardized multiple choice question (MCQ) assessment test- Mechanical Waves Conceptual Survey 2 (MWCS2). The descriptive quantitative analysis of novice preservice physics teachers’(NPPT) responses to the MCQ assessment test was taken beyond the conventional responses of assessing the correct options by considering how their responses to the multiple choice were distributed. Interpretive qualitative analysis was used to interpret the responses to each question in order to determine what informed NPPT responses to each question. The interpretation of both qualitative and quantitative data was combined to make sense of scientific conceptions, alternative conceptions, and misconceptions upheld by the preservice teachers. The findings and the distributions showed that novice preservice physics teachers’ conceptual understanding and knowledge of mechanical waves are poor. Implications for teaching and learning mechanical waves amongst NPPT in view of their future professional practice were identified