Students' understanding of the force acting on a moving object : On the increase in students having a naive conception of MIF as grade progresses at elementary and secondary schools

Abstract

It is well known that many students have a naive conception of MIF: Motion implies a force. The purpose of this study is to ascertain from which grade in elementary or secondary school students start to develop the naive conception of MIF. The results show that the number of students having a naive conception of MIF increases steadily with age through the lower years. Residual analysis shows that in students above the seventh grade the naive conception of MIF gets stronger.