Preliminary research on prospective teacher’s ability in understanding the physics problems by sketching

Understanding problem is an essential stage of problem solving skills. A preliminary research about problem solving skill (especially on understanding the question) in physics instruction was significantly important. Prospective physics teachers have to comprehend the problems by sketching the situation prior to solve it. It would make prospective teachers skilled at problem solving. The purpose of this study was to analyze prospective teachers’ ability in understanding physics problem by sketching. It was an initial study for the further developing research about applying metacognitive strategies to increase the teacher candidates’ problem solving skill in physics classrooms. The sample of this study was physics education class of 2018 who had taken the fundamental physics course, amounting to 35. Data was analyzed by using qualitative-descriptive method. To sum up, the findings of this study are; prospective physics teachers had difficulty comprehending the problems and sketching the problems’ situation. Hence, it is suggested to apply a learning strategy which trains the prospective teachers’ skills in problem solving. For instance, integrated metacognitive and sketch strategy of knowledge in physics instruction.