childrensideasaboutforceandmotion-pet,pset,eset.docVIP

In this article we provide a broad outline of educational research on student ideas about forces and motion. The last 20 years of research on children’s ideas has revealed that there are some common ideas that students use to explain their experiences with moving objects. In the educational research literature, student ideas have been referred to as misconceptions, pre-conceptions, intuitive knowledge and/or na?ve theories of motion. These ideas are often consistent, reliable, and reasonable to students even though they are not necessarily consistent with scientists’ ideas. Educational researchers Gunstone and Watts 1985 classified the findings of the research on students’ ideas about force and motion into general categories. Physics education researcher Michael McCloskey 1983 also studied the types of ideas students have acquired about motion through experience with moving objects. He found that a large majority of college students interviewed consistently explained motion using what McCloskey calls the “impetus theory.” This na?ve theory of motion leads to common student ideas that are not consistent with scientists’ ideas. Common ideas from the work of Gunstone and Watts 1985 and McCloskey 1983 are described below. Common Idea 1: Impetus Theory- Internal Force. According to this idea, the act of setting an object in motion imparts to the object an internal force or “impetus” that serves to maintain motion. In the physics class this is often stated in terms of “force being transferred” from one object to another during an interaction. Common Idea 2: Impetus Theory- Force Runs Out. According to this idea the moving object’s impetus gradually dissipates and as a result the object gradually slows down and comes to a stop. In the physics classroom this often appears in statements such as “the force runs out.” Common Idea 3: Forces have to do with living things. This idea was investigated by Jean Piaget in the 1920s. By interviewing children w