[Phys-L] Re: Aristotelian thinking among modern students

[Robert.Cohen at PO-BOX.ESU.EDU (Robert Cohen)]

On Thursday, October 20, 2005 12:28 PM, David T. Marx wrote:

> I can understand students' misunderstanding with regard to
> velocity being zero and acceleration not being zero, but I am
> amazed that students would think that some force other than
> gravity was acting on the object to make it move upward, even
> after it left the hand that threw it.  It very much reminded
> me of Aristotelian thinking.  Any comments?

My students say this because they think "inertia" is a force.

Of course, just knowing they have this misconception doesn't mean
I am capable of addressing it.  I can to an extent but I'm still
looking for ways to improve.

P.S. I've also found that students have difficulty distinguishing
between terms that differ only in their adjectives (e.g.,
"average velocity", "change in velocity" and "final velocity")
and your results may reflect that ("net force" and "force of
gravity").

____________________________________________________
Robert Cohen, Chair, Department of Physics
East Stroudsburg University; E. Stroudsburg, PA 18301
570-422-3428; www.esu.edu/~bbq