Understanding of the Photoelectric Effect by Pre-service Physics Teachers

This study aims to investigate the understanding of the photoelectric effect by pre-service physics teachers. Thus, we selected and translated the Photoelectric Effect Concept Inventory (PECI) and Quantum Physics Conceptual Survey (QPCS) and recruited 21 pre-service physics teachers as respondents. We asked the teachers to describe in detail the reasons for their responses to examine further their difficulties with the photoelectric effect. We found that the pre-service teachers had a relatively high understanding of the concept of the photoelectric effect. However, they encountered difficulties in understanding the work function, stopping voltage, and the role of the power supply. Moreover, we discovered that the teachers experienced challenges relating various variables and inverting the relationship between variables and lacked an understanding of specific experimental situations. Finally, we suggested several implications, including the need to distinguish several related variables of the photoelectric effect and to clarify the relationship between variables in accordance with the particle theory of light.