Preschool education is a crucial stage in children's learning, where they acquire foundational knowledge, including scientific concepts such as energy and its flow. Scientific understanding is vital, and misconceptions formed at this stage are often difficult or even impossible to correct in later stages of education. Therefore, it is essential that preschool teachers possess accurate and reliable knowledge to pass on to their students.

To assess teachers' knowledge related to energy, a survey was conducted with 105 preschool teachers of varying experience, working with children of different ages, often in mixed-age groups. The survey included open-ended questions and a six-point Likert scale. Teachers were asked to assess their own knowledge of energy, which they approached with considerable caution. Most rated their knowledge as 2 or 3 on the six-point scale. Subsequent responses confirmed that their uncertainty and doubts were justified.

Teachers were also asked to classify energy sources as renewable or non-renewable. Correct classifications were made by 76%, 67%, 76%, 91%, 67%, and 64% of participants for crude oil, uranium, heat from the Earth's interior, wind, natural gas, and biofuels, respectively.

Additionally, teachers evaluated the truthfulness of four statements using the Likert scale:
1. Combustion releases energy from fuel.
2. Combustion of fuel always produces carbon dioxide.
3. Chocolate can be a source of energy.
4. Energy is the same as fuel.

66% of teachers rated statement 1 as very likely (5) or extremely likely (6), indicating satisfactory understanding, with only 9% giving the lowest scores (1 or 2). Responses to statement 3 were similarly positive, with 76% selecting values 5 or 6. However, answers to statement 2 showed that 57% believed it was very or extremely likely, overlooking other combustion products, such as dangerous carbon monoxide. Statement 4 also proved challenging; only 44% correctly disagreed with it, rating it unlikely (1 or 2 on the scale).

Among these statements, only statement 1 showed a weak correlation with teachers' self-assessed knowledge of energy (Pearson’s rank correlation coefficient = 0.243). Weak correlations were also found between statements 1 and 3, 2 and 3, 2 and 4, and 3 and 4, with Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients of 0.204, 0.295, 0.340, and 0.311 respectively.

Overall, teachers’ knowledge of energy-related concepts is unsatisfactory. Therefore, greater emphasis should be placed on energy topics in preschool teacher training. For this reason, an energy training program for preschool teachers has been initiated and is currently underway.

Keywords: Education, research, energy, carbon dioxide, preschool teachers.