Pre-service science teachers’ conceptual and procedural difficulties in solving mathematical problems in physical science

Abstract

Students frequently leave first-year physical science classes with a dual set of physical laws in mind- the equations to be applied to qualitative problems and the entrenched set of concepts, many erroneous, to be applied to qualitative, descriptive, or explanatory problems. It is in this sense that the emphasis of this study is on ‘change’ rather than acquisition. Thus, a blend of theoretical framework was considered according to the aim of the study. Of immediate relevance in this regard within the “constructivist paradigm” are: Posner, Strike, Hewson and Gertzog’s (1982) conceptual change theory and the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.