NS540: Forces and Motion

NS 540 Concepts in Physics I: Forces and Motion

Physics content:
Focus on classical physics and the Newtonian concepts of rectilinear motion, conservation of momentum and conservation of energy.

Philosophy and History of Physics:
A comparison of Newtonian and pre-Newtonian models of motion.

Physics Education Research:
Introduction to students’ misconceptions research on kinematics and dynamics.

This is the first course in the ITOP sequence.  It builds the fundamentals of kinematics (motion) and dynamics (forces). A major component of the ITOP courses involves reading and discussing the conceptual history of physics and reading on identifying and  confronting students’ prior knowledge.  

Physics Topics will include:

  • Kinematics and the study of motion
  • Dynamics and Forces that generate motion
  • An understanding of gravity in light of the above
  • Conservation Laws
  • The concept of energy and the work-energy relationship
Week Topic Activity/Discussion
Week 1 Motion in 1 Dimension – Video analysis of a falling body
Week 2 Motion in 2 Dimensions – Discuss reading of students use of graphical analysis
Week 3 Forces and Motion in 1D – Discuss Aristotle and Newtonian
interpretation of object falling in a fluid
– Measure the viscosity of a fluid
Week 4 Forces in 2 Dimensions and
Applications of
Newton’s Laws		 – Discussion of Newton’s Corollaries
– Discussion of Students interpretation
of the Atwood machine
Week 5 Momentum and
Energy Conservation		 – video analysis of a collision
Week 6 Work and Energy – Video analysis of the work and energy in a
Week 7 Sharing and Sharing Participants share lesson plans they developed
Bibliography

Selections from primary sources

  • Aristotle (1989). Book II. (excerpts from Physics). In Matthews, M. (Ed.) The scientific background to modern science. Selected readings. (pp. 5 – 26). Indianapolis: Hackett.
  • Galileo, G. (1959) Accelerated motion. (excerpts from Dialogues concerning two sciences). In Shamos, M. (Ed.) Great Experiments in Physics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
  • Newton, I. (1959). The laws of motion (excerpts from the Principia). In Shamos, M. (ed.) Great Experiments in Physics. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Selections from secondary sources

  • Bostock, D. (1996). Introduction: Aristotle’s cosmology. In Aristotle. Physics. (pp. xv, xvii) Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  • Toulmin, S. and Goodfield, J. (1962) The premature synthesis (Chap. 3); The creation of mechanics (Chap. 8). In The fabric of heavens: the development of astronomy and dynamics. (pp. 90 – 105; 210 – 227).New York: Harper & Row.

Selections from Physics Education Research Literature

  • Trowbridge, D.E. & McDermott, L.C. (1980). Investigation of student understanding of the concept of velocity in one dimension, Am. J. Phys., 48 (12), 1020–1028.
  • McDermott, L.C., Rosenquist, M.L. & van Zee, E.H. (1987). Student difficulties in connecting graphs and physics: Examples from kinematics. Am. J. Phys., 55, 503 – 513.
  • Rosenquist, M.L. & McDermott, L.C. (1987). A conceptual approach to teaching kinematics. Am. J. Phys., 55 (5) 407 – 415.
  • McDermott, L.C., Shaffer, P.S. and Somers, M.D. (1994). Research as a guide for teaching introductory mechanics: An illustration in the context of the Atwood’s Machine, Am. J. Phys., 62 (1), 46 – 55.
  • McCloskey, M. (1983). Intuitive Physics. Sci. Am., 248 (4), 122-130.
  • Halloun, I. A. and Hestenes, D. (1985). Common sense concepts about motion. Am. J. Phys., 53, 1056 – 1065.
  • Clement, J. (1982). Students’ preconceptions in introductory mechanics.
    Am. J. Phys, 50, 66 – 71.

Review of Physics Concept Inventory Tests 

  • D. Hestenes & M. Wells,  “A Mechanics Baseline Test”, The Physics Teacher, Vol. 30, March 1992, 159-166
  • D. Hestenes & M. Wells,  “Force Concept Inventory”, The Physics Teacher: Volume 30, Issue 3, Pages 141-158