The need of representation approach to provide prospective physics teacher with better reasoni ng ability and conceptual understanding

This article reports an explanatory QUAN-qual mixed method to assess students’ conceptual  understanding on mechanics and reasoning ability of the prospective physics  teacher  students  (PPTS)  in  a  public  university  in  East  Java  Indonesia. Quantitative  data,  i.e.  PPTS’s  conceptual  understanding  on  mechanics,  was  gathered  using  Mechanics  Baseline  Test  (MBT)  developed  from  the  work  of Hestenes  and  Wells  (1992);  whereas  the  qualitative  data  was  gathered  using  rubrics  to  asses  PPTS’s  reasoning  ability  that  includes  both  technical  and conceptual  validity,  based  on  students’  open  explanation  on  MBT.  Subject  of study consisted of 35 students who had taken Introductory Physics courses plus  24  students  who  had  taken  both  Introductory  Physics  and  Mechanics  courses. This study shows: (1) PPTS’s MBT score was quite low (mean = 7.41 (max = 22),  SD = 3.95), (2) most PPTS’s reasoning laid down on Level 1 (i.e. one level above the  lowest  level)  for  both  technical  (42%)  and  conceptual  validity  (about  45%),  and (3)  there are strong correlations among scores of MBT, technical aspect of reasoning, and conceptual validity aspect of reasoning. This study suggests the need  of  representation  approach  to  provide  PPTS  with  better  reasoning  ability and conceptual understanding.