The story of force: from Aristotle to Einstein

Abstract

This article summarizes for the physics educator the conceptual development of the notion of force from Aristotle to Einstein, suggesting appropriate analogies, limiting case analyses, thought experiments and imagistic representations that can be used in high school physics.

Making productive use of students' initial conceptions in developing the concept of force

“…These conceptions are said to resemble medieval "impetus" conceptions more closely than newtonian concepts. Accordingly, some investigators suggest a teaching approach based on the historical development of the newtonian concept (e.g., Stinner, 1994). The main alternative conceptions in this area are often summarized in the statement that students believe that "motion implies a force" (Clement, 1982).…”

The Effect of Group Work on Misconceptions of 9th Grade Students about Newton's Laws

“…However, the high rate of the misconceptions ''The heavier object exerts a greater force'' and ''The object which has higher velocity exerts a greater force'' for interacting objects, which are connected to the aforementioned misconception, in both groups indicates that this misconception is, in fact, not removed and it shows up through different questions. According to Stinner (1994), the misconceptions that students have about Newton's laws occur because students explain events in their daily lives intuitively.The interpretations that students make based on their limited observations are in parallel with the history of science and mostly in conflict with Newton's laws. The same situation was observed during the teaching.…”

Using History to Teach Mechanics

“…43 Nersessian (1992, p. 71) suggested that one of the reasons for the success of thought experiments is that they are set in an attractive narrative context. 44 See, for example, Stinner (1989Stinner ( , 1990Stinner ( , 1994Stinner ( , 1995Stinner ( , 1996Stinner ( , 2001) and Stinner and Williams (1993).…”

“…On the other hand, the whole of Stinner's (1994) outline of the history of force from Aristotle to Einstein was presented in a form specifically designed to be used by teachers. Espinoza's (2005) survey of ideas about motion and force both throughout history and in the thought of modern-day students was published with the express purpose of helping students overcome conceptual problems which they apparently shared with early scientists.…”