Exploration and categorisation of pre-service physics teachers' understanding of superconductivity and nanotechnology

Nanoscience and technology is a major field of scientific research and technological innovation but understanding concepts such as superconductivity and nanotechnology are not straightforward. To develop focused teaching strategies, it is necessary to categorise students' prior understanding as different categories of prior ideas require different teaching strategies. An exploratory case study research design was followed to explore and categorise 21 pre-service physics teachers' (PSPTs') understanding of basic concepts of superconductivity and nanotechnology at a University in Oman. Self-compiled open ended questionnaires were used to elicit PSPT understanding of superconductivity and nanotechnology. Their understanding was categorised in epistemological and ontological categories. These six categories were: lateral alternative conceptions; ontological conceptions; naive physics; phenomenological primitives; mixed conceptions; and loose ideas. Findings from this pre-instructional study indicated that naive physics ideas and lateral alternative conceptions were dominant and that the PSPTs' conceptions were diversified and inconsistent. These results could lead to the development of evidence-based pedagogy, which is fundamental to the advancement of an effective physics education curriculum for these two contemporary topics.