Regensburg 1998 – scientific programme

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DD: Didaktik der Physik

DD 15: Klassische Physik

DD 15.1: Talk

Thursday, March 26, 1998, 11:40–12:25, H 6

On the dichotomy of the concept of weight: The confusion in students’ knowledge and the debate about the scientific status of the concept — •Igal Galili — Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Weight concept is usually defined in introductory physics courses as a gravitational force. This definition, originated from the seventeenth century (Newton) but still in use, suffers from erroneous logic from ths perspective of leading modern philosophies of science (e.g., operationalism). Interrestingly, analyzing students’ knowledge on the subject, one can observe a rich alternative knowledge (’misconceptions’), which can be interpreted as a cognitive reflection on the inconsistency and incompleteness of the gravitational weight definition.