How Do Prospective Primary Teachers Exploit Typical Astronomy Textbook Images?

Previous work has shown that astronomy textbook images can be difficult for students to understand. The main reason for such difficulty lies in the fact the astronomical images are two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional phenomena. As such, some features of the phenomena may remain difficult for the students to understand. However, few studies have investigated whether teachers are aware of such students’ difficulties. In this paper, we will present the extent to which prospective primary teachers are aware of the difficulties in reading such images and how they plan to use them in their practice. Implications for teacher training will be briefly discussed.