Pre-service physics teachers’ conceptual understanding of kinematics graphs in Tanzania

Tanzanian secondary school students have consistently performed poorly in the topic of motion in a straight line, which involves kinematics formulas and graphs. Despite instruction, many struggle to plot and interpret these graphs, largely due to limited conceptual understanding among both learners and teachers. This study examines the conceptual understanding of kinematics graphs among pre-service physics teachers in selected Tanzanian teacher training colleges. Using a mixed-methods approach with a sequential explanatory design, the study involved 225 pre-service teachers from two colleges. Data were collected through a validated kinematics graph concept inventory and interviews, then analyzed using SPSS version 22, Excel, and thematic analysis technique. The findings revealed five key challenges: difficulty interpreting slopes of graphs that do not start at the origin, representing stationary objects on the graph, calculating total distance when motion involves both forward and backward directions, interpreting areas under acceleration-time graphs, and converting between kinematics graphs. These challenges underline the need for learner-centred teaching strategies to enhance students’ conceptual understanding and performance. The study recommends that physics educators in Tanzania recognize and address these specific difficulties when teaching kinematics graphs to students.