Conceptual Dynamics

Abstract

In this paper I will develop a phenomenological framework and a methodology in order to identify student views of the physical world and to explore the dynamic process by which these views are transformed during instruction. This approach, “conceptual dynamics, ” will then be applied to a specific area of physics, student views about force and motion—mechanics or more specifically dynamics, the behavior of objects moving as a result of forces acting on them (behavior is described by Newton’s Three Laws). In other words, the latter part of the paper will be an examination of students “conceptual dynamics” during their study of dynamics. How students change their views, the pattern of their movement from one view to another, the correlation among views in different areas of the domain and the generality of the applicability of the view are all more important to understanding learning (and to improving the instructional process) than a list of particular student views. Of course it is impossible to do conceptual dynamics without being able to enumerate student views. After developing the methodology in a more general way, I will show how the methods of conceptual dynamics can be used to articulate common student views of force and motion for each of the areas of dynamics that students distinguish. Newton’s First and Second Laws, for example, become the Four Student Laws of Force and Motion. Each of the different student views in each of the semi-independent cases of motion distinguished by the students will be accompanied by student words describing that view. In addition to showing how the multiple student views, held by individual students, can be determined for large numbers of students in instructional settings, I will show how learning hierarchies can be established that allow a statistical prediction of student progression through the various views.

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under the Student Oriented Science Project funded by the division of Undergraduate Course and Curriculum Development, the Modeling Project funded by Research in Teaching and Learning Division, and the Microcomputer-Based Laboratories for Teaching Teachers project. Earlier work was funded by the Fund for Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) of the US. Department of Education under the “Tools for Scientific Thinking” project and “Interactive Physics” at Tufts University. The US Department of Education, the Board of Regents of Massachusetts, and Apple Computer, Inc. funded programs that allowed us to study secondary school students.