One key objective of physics teaching is the promotion of conceptual understanding. Additionally,
the critical faculty is universally seen as a central quality to be developed in students. In recent
years, however, teaching objectives have placed stronger emphasis on skills than on concepts, and
there is a risk that conceptual structuring may be disregarded. The question therefore arises as to
whether it is possible for students to develop a critical stance without a conceptual basis, leading
in turn to the issue of possible links between the development of conceptual understanding and
critical attitude. In an in-depth study to address these questions, the participants were seven
prospective physics and chemistry teachers. The methodology included a ‘teaching interview’,
designed to observe participants’ responses to limited explanations of a given phenomenon and their
ensuing intellectual satisfaction or frustration. The explanatory task related to the physics of how
a survival…