A study about the understanding of the physical notions of Newtonian mechanics: the case of the center of mass

Authors

  • Nehemías Moreno Martínez
  • Vincenç Font Moll
  • Rita Guadalupe Angulo Villanueva

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55767/2451.6007.v30.n2.22732

Keywords:

Center of mass, Physical situation, Complexity, Idealization, Comprehension

Abstract

The understanding of the Center of Mass is described from a case study. The description is based on the analysis of the production of a group of university students when they solve some tasks proposed in a representative sample of contexts, a static mechanical context and a dynamic one, in which the Center of Mass is important for its resolution. In the study of conceptions, some theoretical tools of the Ontosemiotic Approach are used and adapted such as the configuration of mathematical objects of epistemic and cognitive type. The comparison between the epistemic configuration, organized by a teacher, and the cognitive configurations of the students, shows that the static context should include situations in which the process of idealization is favored, that the competent use of this notion in a specific task It provides the student with a partial knowledge and, on the other hand, that the transfer of knowledge from one context to another is not immediate, since students do not consider the complexity of the dynamic context.

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Published

2018-12-18

How to Cite

Moreno Martínez, N., Font Moll, V., & Angulo Villanueva, R. G. (2018). A study about the understanding of the physical notions of Newtonian mechanics: the case of the center of mass. Journal of Physics Teaching, 30(2), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.55767/2451.6007.v30.n2.22732