Abstract
Interviews‐about‐instances and interviews‐about‐events conducted with an opportunity sample of 20 primary school teachers in England were used to probe the teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the concept energy. A number of statements made by the teachers during the interviews were then incorporated into a survey questionnaire which was given to an opportunity sample of 152 primary school teachers from three English Local Education Authorities. This enabled the prevalence of particular ideas about energy in a much larger sample of teachers to be established. Results of both the interview and survey phases of the research are reported, and discussed in light of a recent increased emphasis on the learning of science concepts in primary schools.