Teaching and Learning the Concept of Weightlessness: An Additional Look at Physics Textbooks
Abstract
A recent textbook research, carried out on a sample of 20 American physics textbooks, shows that the authors mainly keep the old definition of weight. According to that definition, the weight of a body is the gravitational force on the body. In such a conceptual frame, the objects in the spaceship are “apparently weightless” because they are still attracted by the Earth’s gravitational force. In addition, almost all authors introduce “apparent weightlessness” using “thought experiment” in which a person finds that her or his “apparent weight” is zero if weighing in a free-falling elevator. The mentioned research was focused on linguistic issues and their role in students’ learning the concepts of “weight”, “weightlessness” and “free fall”. We gave an additional look at 37 physics textbooks in order to analyze the pedagogical treatment of the concept of weightlessness from the point of active physics learning. It is known that students learn physics better when they have multiple opportunities to observe, describe, explain and predict physics phenomena. It was found that only a few authors provide students hands-on and minds-on activities with the concept of weightlessness, limiting their chances to learn it properly. This is a surprising situation because one can find many different demonstrations of free-fall weightlessness published in pedagogical journals that were designed and suggested for their use in physics classrooms.References
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Slisko, J. & Planinsic, G. (2010). Hands-on experiences with buoyant-less water. Physics Education, 45(3), 292-296.
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Sokolowski, A. (1999). Weight—a pictorial view. The Physics Teacher, 37(4), 240 – 241.
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Vogt, G. L. & Gregory, M. J. (1992). Wargo (Eds), Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide with Activities. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Walker, J. S. (2007). Physics. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Wilson, J. D., Buffa, A. J. & Lou, B. (2007). College Physics. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Young, H. D. & Freedman, R. A. (2008). Sears and Zemansky’s University Physics. 12th Edition. Volume 1. San Francisco: Pearson/Addison Wesley.
Balukovic, J., Slisko, J. & Corona Cruz, A. (2015). ¿Cómo deja de fluir un chorro de agua de un recipiente en caída libre? Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias, 12(3), 593-600.
Balukovic, J., Slisko, J. & Corona Cruz, A. (2015). Electrostatic demonstration of free-fall weightlessness. Physics Education, 50(3), 288-290.
Balukovic, J., Slisko, J. & Corona Cruz, A. (2015). A demonstration of “weightlessness” with 1-kg mass and balloon. The Physics Teacher, 53(7), 440-441.
Balukovic, J. & Slisko, J. (2015). Bottle-and-water-jet demonstration of free-fall weightlessness: Do high-school students know it and what are their explanations? Poster presented at the GIREP conference, Wroclaw, Poland.
Blatt, F. J. (1989). Principles of Physics. 3rd edition Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Bishop, R. (1999). Weight—an accurate, up-to-date, layman’s definition. The Physics Teacher, 37(4), 238 – 239.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L. & Cocking, R. R. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press,
Brown, R. (1999). Weight—don’t use the word at all. The Physics Teacher, 37(4), 241.
Chakarvarti, S. K. (1978). A demonstration on weightlessness. The Physics Teacher, 16(6), 391.
Corona Cruz, A., Slisko, J. & Planinsic, G. (2006). Freely rising bottle of water also demonstrates weightlessness. Physics Education, 41(3), 208-209.
Cutnell, J. D. & Johnson, K. W. (2004). Physics. Sixth Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Edge, R. D. (1987). String and sticky tape experiments. College Park: American Association of Physics Teachers.
Ehrlich, R. (1997). Why Toast Lands Jelly-side Down: Zen and the Art of Physics Demonstration Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Etkina, E. & van Heuvelen, A. (2007). Investigative science learning environment—a science process approach to learning physics. In E. F. Redish & P. J. Cooney (Eds.), Research-based reform of university physics, College Park: American Association of Physics Teachers, p. 1- 48.
Galili, I. (1995). Interpretation of students' understanding of the concept of weightlessness. Research in Science Education, 25(1), 51-74.
Gardner, R. (2010). Forces and motion science fair projects, revised and expanded using the scientific method, Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishing.
Giancoli, D. C. (2005). Physics. Principles with Applications. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Gürel, Z. & Acar, H. (2003). Research into students’ views about basic physics principles in a weightless environment. Astronomy Education Review, 2(1), 65-81.
Hecht, E. (2000). Physics: Calculus. Second Edition, Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Hewitt, P. G. (2010). Conceptual Physics. Eleventh Edition. Boston: Addison-Wesley.
Iona, M. (1975). The meaning of weight. The Physics Teacher, 13(5), 263-274.
Iona, M. (1999). Weight—an official definition. The Physics Teacher, 37(4), 238.
Jones, E. & Childers, R. (1999), Contemporary College Physics. 3rd edition. Boston: WCB/McGraw-Hill.
Karplus, R. (1977). Science teaching and the development of reasoning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 14(2), 169-175.
Kober, N. (2015). Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Instruction in Undergraduate Science and Engineering. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.
Kruglak, H. (1962). Demonstrations of weightlessness. American Journal of Physics, 30(12), 929-930.
Kruglak, H. (1963), Physical effects of apparent “weightlessness”. The Physics Teacher, 1(1), 34-35.
King, A.L. (1962). Weight and weightlessness. American Journal of Physics, 30(5), 387.
LaCombe, J. C. & Koss, M. B. (2000). The make-it-yourself drop-tower microgravity demonstrator. The Physics Teacher, 38(3), 143-146.
Lane, R. R. (2000). University Physics. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Lewin W., (2016). Lecture 7 “Weight, Perceived Gravity, and Weightlessness”, Course 8.1 “Classical Mechanics”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0mxyPOMcw0.
Mayer, V. V. & Varaksina. E. I. (2015). A simple demonstration of Einstein's lift: a body thrown upwards moves rectilinearly and uniformly relative to a free-falling model of the lift. European Journal of Physics, 36(5), 055020.
McDermott, L. C. & Redish, E. F. (1999). Resource letter: PER-1: Physics education research. American Journal of Physics, 67(9), 755-767.
Meltzer, D. E. & Thornton, R. K. (2012). Resource Letter ALIP–1: Active-Learning Instruction in Physics. American Journal of Physics, 80(6), 478-496.
Morrison, R. C. (1999). Weight and gravity—the need for consistent definitions. The Physics Teacher, 37(1), 51 – 52.
Muller, R.A. (2010). Physics and technology for future presidents. An introduction to essential physics every world leader needs to know. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Section “You have weight, but you feel weightless”, 75-76.
Rey, H. A. (2015). Curious George Discovers Space. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Sears, F. W. (1963). Weight and weightlessness. The Physics Teacher, 1(1), 20-23.
Sharma, M. D., Millar, R. M., Smith, A. & Sefton, I. M. (2004). Students' understandings of gravity in an orbiting space-ship. Research in Science Education, 34(3), 267-289.
Slisko, J. & Corona Cruz, A. (2011). Showing weightlessness with magnetism. Physics Education, 46(5), 525-527.
Slisko, J. & Planinsic, G. (2010). Hands-on experiences with buoyant-less water. Physics Education, 45(3), 292-296.
Smith, C. J. (1989). Weightlessness for large classes. The Physics Teacher, 27(1), 40-41.
Sokolowski, A. (1999). Weight—a pictorial view. The Physics Teacher, 37(4), 240 – 241.
Spilsbury, R. & Spilsbury, L. (2016). Ride That Rollercoaster: Forces at an Amusement Park, Chicago: Heinemann-Raintree.
Taibu, R. A. (2015). Study of Conceptual and Language Issues Surrounding Weight, Weightlessness, and Free Fall: Textbook Analysis, Instructional Design, and Assessment. Dissertations. Paper 596. http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/596
Taibu, R., Rudge, D. & Schuster, D. (2015). Textbook presentations of weight: Conceptual difficulties and language ambiguities. Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 11, 010117-1-010117-20.
Tipler, P. A. & Mosca, G. (2003). Physics for Scientists and Engineers. 5th edition, New York: W. H. Freeman.
Trilling, B & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Tural, G., Akdeniz, A. R. & Alev, N. (2010). Effect of 5E teaching model on student teachers’ understanding of weightlessness. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 19(5), 470-488.
Vogt, G. L. & Gregory, M. J. (1992). Wargo (Eds), Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide with Activities. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Walker, J. S. (2007). Physics. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Wilson, J. D., Buffa, A. J. & Lou, B. (2007). College Physics. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Young, H. D. & Freedman, R. A. (2008). Sears and Zemansky’s University Physics. 12th Edition. Volume 1. San Francisco: Pearson/Addison Wesley.
Published
2018-07-10
How to Cite
BALUKOVIC, Jasmina; SLISKO, Josip.
Teaching and Learning the Concept of Weightlessness: An Additional Look at Physics Textbooks.
European Journal of Physics Education, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 1, p. 1-14, july 2018.
ISSN 1309-7202.
Available at: <https://eu-journal.org/index.php/EJPE/article/view/168>. Date accessed: 02 may 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.20308/ejpe.v9i1.168.
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