Transforming science and learning concepts of physics teachers

A very much debated issue related to the in-service training courses for physics teachers is the influence that science and learning concepts might have on them. That is, if those concepts affect the way teachers think how scientific concepts originate and evolve and how they implement learning in the classroom. This study addresses the influence that those concepts have when teachers are submitted to assessment in an academic programme. The authors report changes shown by teachers in their epistemological and learning conceptions during a process of instruction. The results allow the possibility not only of demonstrating teachers' transformations of conceptions, but also the implications that these might have on the practice of teaching.