The determination of pre-service teachers? conceptual understanding about electromagnetic induction via ontological approach

The aim of this study is to determine physics pre-service teachers? conceptual understanding of electromagnetic induction via ontological approach. Survey method was used and phenomenological design was preferred.In this study the sample consisted of 12 sophomore university students in Gazi University, Faculty of Gazi Education, Department of Physics Teaching Programme. The research was applied in spring semester of 2007-2008 academic year.Four Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) activities were used as an assessment tool and also semi structured interviews were made. The concepts for analyzing interviews determined as `induced current, induced emf, magnetic flux, magnetic field?. Content analysis was done to decoded interviews.Results of the analysis of concepts according to ontological approach showed that some of the pre-service teachers categorized `induced current, induced emf, magnetic flux, magnetic field? in matter category and some of them categorized in constraint based interactions (CBI) category. The concepts which were categorized in matter category were far away from scientific explanations and some of the concepts which were categorized in CBI category were not explained correctly. Although most of the pre-service teachers could predict the end of the process correctly, they had difficulty in explaining the process.Key Words: Physics Education, Ontological Approach, Electromagnetic Induction, Pre-Service Teachers, Predict-Observe-Explain Activities