Literacy of students of the Department of Primary Education regarding radioactivity

In the present work, the literacy of students of the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education is investigated for phenomena related to radioactivity. The alternative ideas that students have in this subject are also detected. The progression of the perceptions that students have from year to year of their study was also studied. The results of the research led to the conclusion that students have misconceptions, some of which have been published in other papers and some are being identified for the first time. Research on how students" misunderstandings change within their study, has shown that they remain unchanged throughout their studies. This result means that their studies do not change any misunderstandings on this topic. This finding leads also to the conclusion that the students of the pedagogical departments should have courses with modern physics that touch on everyday problems of the modern life.