Identifying the Conceptual Understanding of Undergraduate Physics Students in Solving Basic Physics Problems: A Descriptive Quantitative Study

Understanding concepts is a crucial component of successful physics learning, especially when solving fundamental physics problems. This study aims to identify students' level of conceptual understanding in an introductory physics course and the difficulties they encounter when solving related problems. The research method is a quantitative descriptive survey, involving students from the first to the seventh semesters of the Physics Education program as respondents. Data were collected through a Google Forms questionnaire distributed via WhatsApp. The results showed that 50.33% of students showed their conceptual understanding in the moderate category, because many responses were uncertain or agreed. About 45.58% of students were not confident when applying basic physics concepts to solve problems. About 50.63% of students have not mastered the logical steps and proper methods in solving fundamental physics problems. They also do not fully understand when and how to use the correct physics equations. About 60.77% of students tend to ignore evaluating their understanding of physics concepts after solving problems or exams, and they still rely on others to solve physics problems. These findings highlight the need for better teaching strategies to improve students' conceptual understanding. It will also identify factors that hinder conceptual understanding and propose solutions to improve students' ability to understand physics concepts and solve fundamental physics problems.