Using History to Teach Mechanics

Gauld, Colin

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7654-8_3

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 134 publications

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“…Several authors have suggested that including aspects of the history of physics may help students to understand not only how physics has developed as a human construction, but also to gain a better understanding of the concepts involved (e. g. Coelho, 2010;Gauld, 2014). Historical approaches also have the potential to make students aware of the fact that the principles we refer to as Newton's laws today look quite different from what Isaac Newton originally formulated.…”

Section: Final Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stavrum¹,

Bungum²,

Persson³

2020

NorDiNa

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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.

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Section: Final Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors have suggested that including aspects of the history of physics may help students to understand not only how physics has developed as a human product, but also to get a better understanding of the concepts involved (e. g. Coelho, 2010;Gauld, 2014).…”

Section: Final Discussion and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stavrum¹,

Bungum²,

Persson³

2020

NorDiNa

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“…First, HPS is a reservoir of meaningful experiments that can be studied and reproduced in classrooms. This has been stressed by Gauld (, p. 80) concerning the teaching of mechanics: “in the early history of science, equipment and experiments where much simpler and so provide a source of activities for use in classrooms which can help students deal with some of the problems they experience with the concepts they are learning.” In the case of energy teaching, Joule's paddle‐wheel experiment appears to be a good candidate because it can play the role of a paradigmatic example of the idea of energy transformation and provides a new occasion for applying the conservation principle. Second, by shedding light on the meaning and role of energy, HPS appears very useful for conceiving new teaching strategies and tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching energy in high school by making use of history and philosophy of science

Bächtold

Munier

2018

J Res Sci Teach

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How to improve students' understanding of energy transformation and conservation remains one of the main challenges of energy teaching. To address this challenge, we developed a new teaching strategy suited to high school based on history and philosophy of science (HPS). It involves five key ingredients: study and reproduction of Joule's paddle-wheel experiment, introduction of Rankine's definition, study of a historical text of Joule, use of an "ID card of energy," and early introduction and multiple application of the principle of energy conservation. This strategy was built and implemented in the frame of a collaborative and iterative work involving researchers and teachers. We examined the effects of this HPS-based teaching strategy on students' understanding of energy. We used a quantitative method based on pre-and posttests (N = 95/87) completed by a qualitative analysis using both video recordings of classroom activities and videos produced by students during one of the teaching sequences. The outcomes show that the teaching strategy had an overall positive impact on students' learning of energy: in particular, Joule's paddle-wheel experiment seems to favor their understanding of the notion of energy transformation, while the early introduction and multiple application of the conservation principle appears as a relevant option to facilitate its mastering. This study illustrates how HPS might actually be introduced in classrooms and brings to light its usefulness for building new science teaching strategies.

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Interwoven Thoughts

Rocha¹,

Gurgel²

2017

Crossing the Border of the Traditional Science Curriculum

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Using History to Teach Mechanics

Cited by 7 publications

References 134 publications

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

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

Teaching energy in high school by making use of history and philosophy of science

Interwoven Thoughts

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