Primary science teachers’ understandings of electric current

Abstract

Investigations of the understandings of electric current held by Australian primary science teachers, third‐year education students and South African primary school teachers teaching science through a second language (English), reveal very similar views shared within and between groups. These views are also very similar to the understandings of electric current held by 11‐year‐old pupils in New Zealand and Australian primary schools. Previous research has shown that participation in a teaching sequence wherein alternative conceptions were made explicit, challenge activities provided and a firm commitment to an explanation solicited, results in a shift towards ‘more scientifically acceptable’ understandings of electric current by pupils. This study shows this approach to be equally successful in changing teachers’ understandings of electric current.