Abstract
Presentation of weightlessness and tides in university level physics textbooks was examined through the perspective of the relationship between weight definitions and phenomena explanations. In addition, the pertinent conceptual knowledge of physics teachers and students (physics majors) was probed. Introductory instruction of gravitation, as reflected in the textbooks, often tends to omit tidal effects, and the explanation of weightlessness never incorporated tidal phenomena (as a reliable indicator of gravitational force). Explanations of tides in textbooks often miss the mutual free gravitational motion of the objects involved and the symmetry of tidal deformation. The elicited shortcomings of students’ and teachers’ explanations of weightlessness and tides were related to their presentation in textbooks. It was suggested that an approach emphasizing weight definitions, as well as synergetic treatment of weighing and tidal effects in the state of weightlessness, may contribute to the presentation of gravitation in a contemporary correct perspective. Implications for teachers’ content and pedagogical-content knowledge are also considered.
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Galili, I., Lehavi, Y. (2003). The Importance of Weightlessness and Tides in Teaching Gravitation. In: Psillos, D., Kariotoglou, P., Tselfes, V., Hatzikraniotis, E., Fassoulopoulos, G., Kallery, M. (eds) Science Education Research in the Knowledge-Based Society. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0165-5_25
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