The Relationship between Multiple Representational Skills and Understanding of Physics Concepts in the Pre-Service Science Teacher

The concept of physics has various representations that must be mastered by the Pre-Service Science Teacher (PSST). It is not uncommon for PSST to have poor multiple representation skills, impacting the delivery of concepts in school. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the profile of multiple representation skills and their relation to understanding the concept of PSST Physics. The representations studied include verbal, visual, symbolic, and mathematical forms. Eleven PSST became respondents in the study. Multiple representation and conception measurements use instruments with a three-tier item format containing content, argumentation, and confidence levels. Student responses are analyzed descriptively, qualitatively, and quantitatively. The findings of this study are: 1) 18% of PSST belong to the concept understanding, 27% experienced misconceptions, and the rest (55%) were classified as not knowing the concept or responding by guessing; 2) the highest representation format mastered by students is the visual representation, and the lowest is the mathematical representation; and 3) the ability to multiple representations and understand physics concepts has a significant and perfect correlation with a Pearson Correlation of 0.847. This research implies that learning for PSST can emphasize multiple representation abilities as it affects their understanding of concepts.


Introduction
Misconceptions are defined as concept misunderstandings that may occur during or as a result of recently given teaching, as opposed to scientific conceptions that have been carried out or developed over a long period [1,2].Recent studies have shown that misconceptions are still a problem in education.Moreover, if the teacher experiences misconceptions when managing to learn, he will become a potential source of misconceptions for his students.There still needs to be more mastery by teachers, especially science teachers, of the substance of the scientific field, so it has the potential to cause misconceptions in subjects that many researchers report.Kanli reports the low scores of the pre-service and the in-service physics teachers in Turkey in understanding astronomical material [3].Kaltakci-Gurel et al. [4] reported that more than 10% of the pre-service physics teachers have low mastery of material because they are proven to have misconceptions about geometric optical materials.Misconceptions are also experienced by chemistry teachers on reaction rate materials [5] and biology teachers on the concept of evolution [6].In addition, teaching contains misconceptions that teachers make that are positively correlated with misconceptions experienced by their students.In Indonesia, the average Science teacher in the teacher competency test showed that the results were still below the passing grade of 71.36.Science teachers whose teacher competency test is above the passing grade are less than 2% [7].Science teachers should ideally have a deep conceptual understanding of science, be able to perform qualitative and quantitative reasoning, understand and develop multiple representations, be skilled in scientific inquiry, and anticipate students' conceptual difficulties [8].
Many previous studies have suspected that a person's conception is related to his ability to present information in various forms, known as multiple representations [9].In Physics, the concept of Physics is described, represented, or denoted.Many authors and researchers use various representational terms, such as verbal, symbolic, visual, pictorial, images, charts, graphs, and mathematical [10][11][12][13][14].In general, multiple representations can be classified into four types, namely verbal (in the form of sentences or words), symbolic (in the form of codes, symbols, or symbols), visual (in the form of images, diagrams, charts, or graphs), also mathematical (in the form of formulas or equations) [15][16][17].
Some researchers concluded that multiple representations could enrich the context of students to strengthen the understanding of concepts [18,19], provide the correct diagrams to assist students in solving challenging problems [12], and provide multiple representations can help the formulation of goals and memory load of students during the process of problem-solving [20,21].The multiple representation approach can improve students' cognitive abilities [14].The multiple representations also can improve mental models [11].The correct visual representation also correlates with students' understanding of physics concepts [22].Therefore, it is necessary to research the correlation between multiple representational abilities and understanding physics concepts in PSST.
The experience of researchers in School Science courses, especially physics concentration classes, shows that the variety of PSST conceptions is vast, and their ability to present physics concepts in various forms of representation still needs to improve.It is also supported by [8] research whi, which shows the still weak representation of students in physics learning.Therefore, it is essential to analyze in depth the pattern or the profile of PSST conception from the side of multiple representations so that existing problems can be identified and the relationship between multiple representation skills and understanding of physics concepts.

Method
This research is a descriptive ex-post facto, describing or describing students' multiple representation skills, conceptions, and relationships [23,24].The research respondent is eleven undergraduate students (YS, EPL, AYA, HA, NWK, FS, MAA, PNA, SN, MGM, J) of the science education master's program who took the School's Science-Physics course.The sampling technique uses purposive sampling, considering adjusting to the physical content being studied by PSST [25].The steps in this study are (1) tracing information through literature studies on the ability to multiple representations and understand physics concepts; (2) developing and testing research instruments; (3) collecting data through tests on PSST; and (4) analyzing the data descriptively.The instrument in this study is a three-tier items model: the first tier measures mastery content; the second tier measures the arguments in favor of the first tier's answer; and the third tier measures the confidence in giving answers at the first and second tiers.The physics material used in the test instrument is force dynamics because it has implied multiple representations, such as vector, frictional force, weight force, and normal force.The physics multiple representation capabilities measured in instruments include verbal, visual, symbolic, and mathematical [26][27][28].This instrument has been validated through the Cronbach Alpha value, which has an index of 0.76 -0.82.So, the instrument is reliable and can be used for data collection.
Descriptive data analysis techniques through analysis of student confidence responses utilizing the Certainty of Response Index (CRI) adapted from Hasan [29].Analysis of the degree of confidence of students in answering each question is grouped based on the choice of CRI numbers (1-5) as in Table 1.Finally, the interpretation of the concept understanding is based on combining the CRI answers and choices presented in Table 2. Furthermore, the value of the concept of PSST is carried out using rubrics adapted from Dikmenli [30], as in Table 3. PSST is categorized as conceptual if it gets a minimum score of 0.60.Meanwhile, to determine the relationship between multiple representation ability and understanding PSST conception, use the Pearson Correlation test to determine the degree of significance and influence between the two variables.The determination of the criteria for the degree of the relationship can be seen in Table 3.In this study, the hypothesis is that there is a significant correlation between multiple representation ability and understanding of PSST conception.

Profile of PSST Physics Multiple Representational Skill
Student success in learning physics concepts and problem-solving must accompany the teacher's success in understanding and using multiple representations.The multiple representational skills profiles of the eleven PSSTs who were respondents to this study are shown in Figure 1.It is known that among all respondents, the PSST that has the highest average verbal representation skills is EPL, and the lowest is SN.The ones with the highest average visual representation skills are YS and AYA, while the lowest is NWK.PSST has the highest intermediate symbolic representation skill, FS, while the lowest is MAA; the one with the highest average mathematical representation skills is EPL and the lowest is NWK.Overall, the students with the highest average multiple representation skills are EPL, while the lowest is MAA.PSST obtaining a low score on the verbal type of representation does not mean that the student is incapable of forming a mathematical representation.This potential occurs because the student does not understand the information from the mathematical representation presented.Therefore, a varied test design like this allows the multiple representation capabilities of PSST across the four types of representation to also be varied.It can be seen that the form of representation that tends to be well mastered by most respondents is a visual representation, followed by symbolic, verbal, and mathematical.Formulating physical concepts into mathematical presentations is still the biggest problem for PSST, although the mastery of symbolic language is already quite well mastered.PSST is used to using one or two representations in solving problems so that they may be able to solve problems because they follow the problem-solving exemplified by textbooks or from practice questions given by the teacher but cannot generalize it [8].Expressing physical phenomena and concepts into correct, easy-to-understand (verbal) statements still needs to be improved.It shows consistency with studies showing that most undergraduate students have higher multiple representation abilities on verbal and visual aspects than mathematics [8,31].Even though these skills are essential for a teacher, they must be able to choose straightforward sentences for their students to understand, even if the natural phenomenon or concept he wants to describe is very complicated.Moreover, materials with various characteristics in Physics are abstract and contain many calculations.Multiple representational abilities can help cognitive processes understand the material [32].Figure 2 presents a sample of the verbal, visual, symbolic, and mathematical representations the MAA shows when presented with beams over a rough inclined plane.Then, he asked to analyze the coefficient of friction between the beam and the inclined plane if it turns out that the beam does not slide towards the foot of the inclined plane.The response suggests that if PSST's visual skill of describing the forces acting on the system is incorrect, then the mathematical analysis also becomes incorrect.However, it can symbolically represent some current physical magnitudes, as shown in the responses of the two PSSTs: MAA and NWK.
The visual representation of MAA is largely incorrect.Only the weight force (W) and friction force (fs) representations are correct.The representation of normal force (N) is the correct direction, but the imprecise magnitude is depicted with the length of the arrow inaccurately.It appears the symbol F, which in its verbal presentation mentions as a descending style.In terms of stylistic and depiction, the representation of the F arrow is incorrect.In the picture is also shown an X arrow whose meaning is unclear.Since visually, it does not accurately represent the concept of Physics, the symbolic, mathematical, and verbal representations for determining the coefficient of friction also need to be corrected.The same thing is shown by NWK, as seen in Figure 3.The normal force (N) representation is incorrect in magnitude and direction.The direction of the friction force is also incorrect.Like MAA, NWK also describes an imprecise F force.NWK's symbolic skills are better than MAA's, so they can still write better symbolic relations of physical quantities.However, it still does not work mathematically because, in its visual representation, it does not appear.The final result is still unable to analyze the coefficient of friction between the beam and the inclined plane.PSSTs with better visual representation skills tend to show better verbal, symbolic, and mathematical skills, as PSST, YS, and AYA show.Figure 4 shows a YS response that is well-representative.The representation of weight force (W) is correct and complete with its description on the axes parallel and perpendicular to the inclined plane, with an accurate presentation of magnitude and direction.The frictional force (fs) and normal force (N) are visualized correctly, even though they are not in the right place.This could be because they want to present arrow lines so they do not coincide with other lines if they are drawn where they should be.Because visually, it successfully represents existing physics concepts, the mathematical analysis is mostly correct.Even so, YS does not yet have multirepresentational consistency.This can be seen from the answer to YS's verbal description, which states, "If it doesn't move, then a = 0, " but in the following mathematical formula, it still raises a  0. As a result, the value of the coefficient of friction () becomes incorrect.
PSSTs with better visual representation skills tend to show better verbal, symbolic, and mathematical skills, as PSST YS and AYA show.Figure 4 responds to YS's answer with good visual, symbolic, and mathematical representation skills.Similar to the AYA in Figure 5, which is more careful in using the symbol s (not k), the final analysis result of the friction coefficient between the beam and the inclined plane is also more accurate.The result aligns with the research of Jauhariyah & Wasis [22] on correlating the students' understanding of Physics concepts.
Look at the picture below!a. Complete the picture above with the forces acting and write which one is the action-reaction force pair b.If the block is not moving down, determine the coefficient of friction between the block and the inclined plane

Relationship Between Multiple Representational Ability and Physics Conception
First, it is necessary to know the value of the conception of PSST physics in advance.The graph in Figure 6 shows the average conception and CRI values of the eleven PSSTs who were respondents to the study.It can be seen that the three PSSTs that have the highest conception values in a row are EPL, FS, and YS.The four PSSTs with the lowest conception value in a row are J, MGM, PNA, and SN.Based on the diagram, it can be seen that only YS, EPL, AYA, and FS have had the correct conception category.If the average of conception values and CRI PSST paired and analyzed refers to the classification shown in Table 3, the following categories of interpretation are obtained.Based on the data in Table 4, of the eleven PSSTs, only 18% (2 PSSTs) are included in understanding the concept.Three PSSTs (27%) experienced misconceptions, and six PSSTs (55%) were categorized as not knowing the concept or answering by guessing.This is because, in each subconcept, PSST has a different form of misconception.These misconceptions cause them to answer the questions given incorrectly.PSST answers questions based on its erroneous mastery of concepts, causing the next interrelated concept to become erroneous.These results corroborate previous research [3][4][5][6]33], which states that there are still many teachers who have misconceptions.According to the philosophy of constructivism, knowledge in PSST is constructed by the learners themselves [34].This construction process involves interacting with objects, events, and the environment.When PSST learners engage with their learning environment, they construct knowledge based on their experiences.Therefore, it is likely that errors may occur during the knowledge construction process since, naturally, PSST learners are not used to constructing their knowledge appropriately.The ability to make multiple representations relates to the PSST conception.The correlation between both of these things is shown in Figure 7.It can be seen that the lower the multiple representation skills of PSST, the lower the conception of physics material.This statement is corroborated by the Pearson Correlation test results, which have a significance value of 0.001 so that the two variables correlate, as in Table 8.The degree of correlation between multiple representation ability and understanding of physics concepts is 0.847, which is included in the perfect correlation criteria.This is because multiple representation skills are used to recognize a person's thought processes, so the lower the multiple representation skills, the lower the person's thought process.Low thought processes cause PSST to lack a conception of the material being understood.Using different representations of PSST can deepen understanding.
These findings are consistent with research that states that increasing multiple representational abilities can effectively develop pre-service teacher cognitive abilities [35].Additionally, it is impossible to separate problem-solving skills from multiple-representation skills; as a result, students with multiple-representation solid skills typically have strong problem-solving skills.Reviewed according to learning theory, Vygotsky states that thinking is a mental process, and multi-representation can assist mental processes in formulating goals and students' memory loads during the problem-solving process [15,20].According to Ausubel, meaningful learning involves tapping into learners' prior knowledge and adjusting teaching methods accordingly [35].Therefore, to effectively teach concepts to students in the classroom, PSST must understand the concept and have access to learning activities that can present it in its entirety using multiple mathematical, symbolic, verbal, and visual representations (physics multiple representation ability) [8].Various physics problems can finally be solved if they are based on good mental processes characterized by correct and consistent multiple representation skills.

Conclusion
A relationship has been identified between multiple representation ability and understanding of physics concepts in PSST.Both variables have a significant and perfect correlation with a Pearson Correlation of 0.847.Only 18% showed understanding of concepts, 27% experienced misconceptions, and the rest did not know concepts or guesses in answering questions related to Physics concepts.The form of representation best mastered by PSST is a visual representation, while the lowest is a mathematical representation.When PSST multiple representation skills are low, so is PSST conception.Multiple representation skills are used to recognize a person's thought processes, so the lower the multiple representation skills, the lower the person's thought process.The limitations of this study are that it only focuses on a small number of samples so that subsequent studies can increase the number of samples to obtain more credible data.This study implies that education for PSST can emphasize multiple representational abilities as it affects their understanding of concepts.PSST must have strong multiple representation skills because school students have different representations in physics subjects.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Verbal, visual, symbolic, and mathematical multiple representational skills diagram of the entire PSST.

Table 3 .
Conception score rubric and determination of relationship degree criteria based on Pearson correlation value.