The aim of Science as a subject in primary school is to introduce pupils to the world of research and knowledge, enabling them to develop attitudes and skills which will help them to understand the world and the environment where they live. Teaching this subject using conceptual approach encourages pupils to learn and implement acquired knowledge and competences in their future life. Such approach to teaching requires certain competencies from the teacher which should meet the demands of contemporary teaching. It is therefore important for students-future teachers to have expert knowledge of the concepts of a specific subject, in addition to necessary didactic, methodological, pedagogical and psychological knowledge. The absence of the aforementioned knowledge may result in the development of students’ misconceptions which, in turn, may result in the development of pupils’ misconceptions during the teaching process. The sample (N = 140) consisted of primary teacher education students at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split, and the aim was to show to what extent they demonstrated conceptual understanding of the basic biological concepts important for teaching Science. The questionnaire they completed consisted of two parts; the first part investigated their sociodemographic characteristics, and the second part consisted of 17 tasks investigating the students’ conceptual understanding of the concept of plant (flowerplant, photosynthesis, the timing of photosynthesis, pollination and dissemination). The research results show the tendency towards conceptual misunderstanding of the aforementioned concepts in the students’ answers (with the exception of the timing of photosynthesis and plant dissemination) irrespective of their year of study or the secondary school they finished. Conceptual understanding and knowledge of specific concepts of a particular subject is necessary for all teachers, as well as for the students of primary teacher education. It is therefore important to identify students’ misconceptions with regards to biology and to work on removing them to prevent their transmission to pupils.