The FCI (Force Concept Inventory) Story: Who Is Not Learning and What Isn’t Being Learned

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: Investigations of Science Learning

Abstract

For almost twenty years the disparity between exam results and Force Concept Inventory (FCI) total scores has been a stimulus for the development and implementation of new pedagogy for introductory physics courses. Examining a large set of student responses, before and after instruction in introductory courses, this paper documents the continued lack of success of students entering these courses with low prior knowledge. Then, by examining frequencies of incorrect responses to FCI items that students find most difficult, this paper identifies which non−Newtonian conceptions stand out as significant obstacles to students gaining a fully Newtonian conception of force and motion.

Authors

• Helena Dedic, Vanier College

• Steven Usher Robert Rosenfield, Cegep Vanier College

• Nathaniel Lasry, Harvard University