“Never at rest”: developing a conceptual framework for descriptions of ‘force’ in physics textbooks

Abstract

The concept of ‘force’ is abstract and challenging for many physics students, and many studies have
 revealed misconceptions that hinder students’ understanding and learning in classical physics. One reason
 for this may be the multifaceted nature of the concept and how textbooks give different definitions
 and explanations depending on the context. In this article, we present a framework of eight categories
 for how the concept is described, based on fundamental principles in physics, their historical sources
 and an analysis of how ‘force’ is described in four physics textbooks used in upper secondary schools in
 Norway. Examples from one of the textbooks that constituted the empirical basis for the framework are
 given. These reveal that textbooks may present students with a variety of definitions and explanations
 of ‘force’. It is argued that students should be made aware of this variability in order to support their
 motivation and learning in physics, but also to understand the complex and evolving nature of the force
 concept and other important concepts in physics.

Elevator speech: Students’ discussions of forces and acceleration by means of a scale in an elevator

“…In accordance with earlier findings in physics education research (see Taibu et al, 2015), the concept of weight is also challenging for students. Some of the students seem to interpret weight as an intrinsic property of a body just like mass, probably influenced by everyday language and in line with how force can be interpreted as a property (Stavrum et al, 2020). The conceptual challenges are magnified by the fact that the force in question, N*, does not have a specific name except "the reaction force to the normal force".…”

“…Results show that students may be able to reproduce equations like F= m • a (Newton's second law) without really understanding their conceptual content and that many students have mistaken ideas about the relationships between forces and motion. The key concept force is in fact very abstract and appears with diverse definitions and descriptions in physics teaching and textbooks (Alonzo & Steedle, 2009;Stavrum et al, 2020;Touger, 1991). This makes it difficult for students to extract the concise meaning of the term (Itza-Ortiz et al, 2003;Williams, 1999).…”

Reading the Code Between the Lines

“…The last ten years has seen increasing research directed towards the use of metaphorical language within science education and other related areas (e.g., Amin, Jeppsson, & Haglund, 2015) such as metaphor use in relation to energy (e.g., Dreyfus et al, 2014), metaphors in problem-solving (Hidalgo-Cespedes, Marin-Raventos, Lara-Villagran, & Villalobos-Fernandez, 2018) and the metaphorical nature of the language used in textbooks (Bråting & Kilhamn, 2021;Hedberg, Haglund, & Jeppsson, 2015;Stavrum, Bungum, & Persson, 2020). In parallel, growing research concerning computer science education related to metaphors, computing concepts and programming languages is emerging (e.g., Gogolla & Stevens, 2018;Long, 2007;Robins, Rountree, & Rountree, 2003;Woollard, 2005).…”