Developing and Applying a Test Related to Appearing Misconceptions about Newtonian Laws of Motion

The aim of this study is to develop a test aiming at to determining the misconceptions about Newtonian laws of motion and to evaluate its applicability. The test was implemented to 85 student teachers enrolled in The Primary Science Teacher Training Program to determine the reliability. The reliability was found as 0,65. Then the test implemented to 42 firs grade students. Data from the test showed that student teachers have a lot of misconceptions about Newtonian Laws of Motion. Some misconceptions were determined such as “If a body is moving there is always a force acting in the direction of the motion”, “A moving body exerts a greater force than the stationary body when they collide”. One reason for these misconceptions is thought that the student teachers learn subjects and concepts not meaningfully but superficially by keeping them in their minds for a temporary period. That’s why it is suggested that this test should be applied to find out student teachers’ misconceptions and their causes. By this way teaching can be better organized according to the test results.