Polarising questions in the Force Concept Inventory

TL;DR

This study uses the Force Concept Inventory to analyze first-year students' misconceptions in Newtonian mechanics through polarising questions, revealing persistent misunderstandings as they enter university.

Contribution

It introduces a novel focus on polarising questions within the FCI to identify specific misconceptions among new physics students.

Findings

Students show persistent misconceptions in Newtonian mechanics.

Polarising questions effectively highlight misconceptions.

Insights can inform targeted instructional strategies.

Abstract

The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) is a well-established physics education assessment tool used to evaluate students' comprehension of elementary mechanics principles. While it can be used to analyse the effectiveness of instruction if deployed as a pre- and post-test, we utilise the FCI here as pre-test only, to extract insights into first-year students' (mis)conceptions of Newtonian mechanics as they enter university. In this preliminary study, we tested 353 students enrolled at the University of Johannesburg in 2021, across six introductory physics courses. We focus on their responses to six "polarising" questions, for which the presence of a correct and a mostly-correct answer allows for a clear demonstration of persistent misconceptions.