The Relationship of Procedural and Declarative Knowledge of Science Teacher
Candidates in Newton’s Laws of Motion to Understanding*
İsmail YILMAZ1
Necati YALÇIN2
Abstract
In this research, it was found that the levels of procedural and declarative knowledge of science teacher
candidates in Newton’s laws of motion are 10%, 41% and 30%; whereas their success level was found to be 55%.
These findings show that students’ success levels do not reflect their knowledge levels. A decline by 31% (66%-
45%) was observed in students’ level of declarative knowledge; which suggests that students experienced some
problems while converting procedural knowledge into declarative knowledge, and due to these problems, they
failed to “understand” Newton’s laws of motion adequately