Concept of Force Representations of Prospective Primary Teachers

The representation of physics concepts is essential to support teaching/learning in primary school. Investigating how future teachers represent the physical concepts has great importance. Research was carried out on concepts of force representations of 274 prospective teachers, enrolled in the Primary Education Sciences degrees. Rubrics were designed and used to analyse different dimensions involved in drawing, descriptions, didactic and disciplinary motivations. It emerged that most of the representations do not include the representation of the involved forces, but rather implies a precise didactic approach to the force concept.