In an 11/28/97 Phys-L posting of the above title Patrick Whippey writes:
=93Arnold Aron's book =91A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching=92 Wile=
y,
1990 has a very careful discussion of this issue...(the meaning of F and
m in Newton=92s Second Law)... He has written another book very recently,
and that too will probably have wise words.=94
In the last sentence, Patrick is evidently referring to =93Teaching
Introductory Physics=94 (Wiley, 1997). That book contains minor updates
of two earlier books "A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching" and
=93Homework and Test Questions for Introductory Physics Teaching=94 (Wile=
y,
1994), plus a new monograph =93Introduction to Classical Conservation
Laws.=94 =93Teaching Introductory Physics=94 has been reviewed by Redish =
(1).
In =93A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching,=94 Arons suggests that
introductory-course students might be lead to a satisfactory
understanding of F and m in Newton=92s Second Law F =3D ma, by considerin=
g a
=93Newtonian sequence=94 thought experiment in which a force scale is
calibrated in terms of the extension of a spring attached to a standard
body which undergoes various constant accelerations on a horizontal
runway. The inertial mass m of any body is then operationally defined
in terms of the ratio F/a. That experiment has been actualized as a
student Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI)laboratory (2,3) using a force
probe, sonic motion detector, computer tools, and software developed at
Tufts University and utilized in =93Tools for Scientific Thinking.=94 (4)=
=20
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
3. R.R. Hake and R. Wakeland, =93What=92s F? What=92s m? What=92s a?: A
Non-Circular SDI-TST-Lab Treatment of Newton=92s Second Law,=94 in
=93Conference on the Introductory Physics Course,=94 Jack Wilson, ed.
(Wiley, 1997), p. 277.
4. R.K. Thornton and D.R. Sokoloff, =93Learning motion concepts using
real-time microcomputer-based laboratory tools,=94 Am. J. Phys. 58, 858
(1990).