Abstract:

Understanding science concepts and being able to explain them is important for science teachers. The perception of students about the concepts of science is related to teachers who use these concepts. In this study, it was aimed to determine prospective science teachers’ (n=152) levels of conceptual understanding and ability to explain animal and plant cells by drawing and written explanations. In the study, descriptive survey design has been used. As for the outcome of the research, the conceptual understanding of prospective science teachers regarding plant and animal cells was not adequate. In addition, prospective science teachers’ level understanding and explanation the animal cells and plant cells was found out to be associated with each other. Prospective teachers’ writing and drawing scores are remarkably in favor of writing and significantly differ. The majority of prospective teachers had difficulty over drawing concepts. Recommendations are presented on the basis of these results.

Keywords: