The degree of Newton's thinking in future students

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a six-year project, where one of the goals was to observe the conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics with which students enrol in undergraduate studies where they study physics courses from the very beginning. As an example of such study programs, the research included 977 undergraduate freshman students of university studies: Pharmacy (N = 152); Chemistry and Chemical Technology (N=563); Food technology (N=123) and professional study of Material Protection and Recovery (N=139). The measuring instrument used to assess the student's level of knowledge of Newtonian mechanics is the Force Concept Inventory (FCI test). In all teaching programs of the observed undergraduate studies, physics courses are core courses and therefore require significant students' engagement and knowledge in order to be mastered successfully. Results show that enrolled students arrive to these studies with extremely poor knowledge of Newtonian mechanics. Among the undergraduate students of Pharmacy, 9.9% of students are at the level of Newtonian thinking; in the undergraduate study of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, 0.9%; in the undergraduate study of Food Technology, 4%; while in the undergraduate professional study of Material Protection and Recovery, there are no enrolled students who have adopted Newtonian mechanics. These results point to significant problems in high school physics teaching, as well as to problems in the quality mastery of physics course material at the observed studies.