This research examined pre-service physics teachers’ perceptions, as well as the benefits, challenges, and
tensions that influenced their understanding of a science, technology, society, and environment (STSE)-based
physics education. Part of the focus of this research was to examine the views of the pre-service physics teachers as
they considered how their undergraduate experience influenced their understanding of STSE and what changes, in
their opinion, would be beneficial for physics professors to make in undergraduate programs as STSE gains
popularity within the public school system. Further, they were questioned on what aspects of their teacher-training
program were beneficial to their understanding of STSE.