Investigation of physics teachers and pre-service physics teacher's pedagogical content knowledge on electricity based on proportional reasoning

The aim of this study is to examine the pedagogical content knowledge of physics teachers and physics teacher candidates based on proportional reasoning on electricity. 10 physics teachers working in various secondary education institutions affiliated to MEB in Ankara and 5 physics teacher candidates studying at Hacettepe University Physics Teaching Department participated in the study. Method of this study is the qualitative research approach and the case study, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was chosen as the research design. As data collection tools, proportional reasoning questions, semi-structured interview questions, content display, card grouping activity and teacher documents were used. While analyzing the data obtained from the study, inductive and deductive analysis approaches were adopted, and both content analysis and descriptive analysis were used together. According to the results of the study, it was seen that the problem solving strategy used by teachers and prospective teachers when solving proportional reasoning questions was the inside-out product strategy. Teachers and pre-service teachers stated that students primarily experience mathematical difficulties while solving electrical problems, and they also stated that they experience subject-specific and affective difficulties. Teachers' and pre-service teachers' beliefs about proportional reasoning were also in the same direction, and it was concluded that the orientations of teachers and pre-service teachers when explaining electricity were mostly teacher-centered orientations. It has been concluded that teachers and pre-service physics teachers have limited knowledge in terms of curriculum, student knowledge, teaching method and technical knowledge and evaluation knowledge components of pedagogical content knowledge.