Pre-service physics teachers’ understanding level about electric flux

In order to get some information about students’ knowledge structure regarding to a particular concept, the examination of understanding level is an important issue. This qualitative study investigates the understanding level of pre-service physics teachers about the subject of electric flux. 21 pre-service physics teachers, who have already taken the electric and magnetism course I, participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. The collected data were analyzed by using the content analysis method and the understanding level of the participants about the electric flux was revealed. According to the results the pre-service physics teachers’ understanding levels were determined as; two participants were in “Sound Understanding”, one participant was in “Partial Understanding”, 10 participants were in “Partial Understanding with Specific Alternative Conception” levels. Additionally, three participants’ understanding level was determined as “No Understanding” level, because of their incorrect, irrelevant or unclear responses toward the questions. On the other hand, five participants had also some alternative conceptions about the subject of electric flux. The alternative conceptions that the pre-service physics teachers had, were mostly about the relationship between the surface and electric flux.