<![CDATA[Conceptual understanding is a fundamental component of science education at the elementary school level. The abstract nature of electricity and magnetism concepts, which cannot be directly observed, often poses substantial challenges for students in developing scientifically accurate conceptual understanding. Such difficulties may lead to misconceptions that can hinder students’ subsequent learning of scientific concepts. This study aimed to describe the profile of elementary school students’ misconceptions regarding electricity and magnetism at SD Inpres 24 Ambon. A descriptive quantitative research design was employed, involving 15 fifth-grade students as the study participants. The research instrument consisted of a three-tier diagnostic test integrated with the Certainty of Response Index (CRI) to identify students’ levels of conceptual understanding, lack of conceptual understanding, and misconceptions. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques by calculating the percentage distribution of students across each conceptual understanding category. The findings revealed that misconceptions constituted the largest proportion of students’ responses, accounting for 77.4%, while 18.0% demonstrated adequate conceptual understanding and 4.2% showed a lack of conceptual understanding. The highest proportion of misconceptions was identified in the indicator distinguishing permanent magnets from temporary magnets, reaching 87%, followed by students’ understanding of electrical circuits and the flow of electric current in closed circuits, which reached 82%. These findings indicate that the majority of students continue to experience significant conceptual difficulties in understanding electricity and magnetism. Therefore, instructional strategies that emphasize concrete learning experiences, simple hands-on experiments, and conceptual change-oriented learning activities are needed to facilitate the development of scientifically consistent conceptual understanding among elementary school students]]>
