Physics uses a large technical vocabulary that often involves words that in everyday life have less precise or even contradictory meaning. Thus one needs ability to discriminate between uses of these words in different contexts. Moreover, we often use in different branches of physics terms and symbols that change their meanings with context. This makes it very difficult even for good students to decipher physics terminology and eventually learn to use it properly in scientific discourse.
Practical Solutions for Improving Physics Pedagogy
The solutions revolve around emphasizing conceptual understanding, model-based thinking, and the language of physics—all areas where the study found students struggled.
1. Focus on Conceptual Interpretation and Application
Studies found students had trouble applying concepts like the electric circuit in a practical context (like a torch) and often relied on superficial knowledge.
* Explicitly Teach Qualitative Interpretation: Teaching should be explicitly focused on the qualitative interpretation of scientific concepts so students can learn to apply them in different contexts.
* Solution: Introduce problems that require students to describe and explain a phenomenon in words and with diagrams, rather than just solving mathematical problems.
* Bridge Abstract Concepts to Everyday Situations: Use everyday, well-known phenomena (e.g., seasons, torches, magnets) as the starting point for instruction, then gradually introduce the abstract scientific concepts and models.
* Solution: Use "draw and write" exercises or "think-aloud" protocols to uncover students' pre-existing, often incorrect, ideas (misconceptions) before formal instruction.
2. Emphasize Semantics, Terminology, and Discourse
Students exhibited profound confusion about the meaning and appropriate use of fundamental physics terms (e.g., confusing "plus/minus" poles with "north/south" poles for magnets, or not distinguishing the nature of light and sound waves).
* Address Physics as a "Foreign Language": Recognize that learning physics concepts is akin to learning a foreign language. Instruction must actively teach the technical vocabulary and the specific meaning of words within the discipline of science, distinguishing them from their everyday meanings.
* Solution: Create activities that specifically require students to discriminate between the use of a word in a physics context versus a non-physics context.
* Insist on Correct Terminology: Teacher educators, in particular, must develop scientific tools for reasoning and interpretation in student teachers. Careless use of terminology should be challenged, as it reflects and induces misunderstandings.
3. Promote Model-Based Thinking (Modeling)
The study indicated students were uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the model-based thinking central to physics, such as the need to simplify and idealize processes.
* Teach the Purpose and Limits of Models: Explicitly teach students why scientists simplify phenomena to create "working models," and what the limitations of those models are.
* Solution: Use activities that require students to switch between model representations (words, pictures, mathematical symbols) and discuss the relationship between the model and the real-world situation. For example, when teaching light refraction, spend time on the "trivial" cases (like the ray hitting at a right angle) to clarify the boundaries of the refraction model. * Integrate Visualization Skills: Since visualization is crucial for describing and interpreting physics, teaching should include explicit training on drawing and interpreting diagrams, graphs, and models (e.g., magnetic field lines, energy chains, molecular structure).
Below are field-tested, low-friction ways to reduce the “false-friend” damage that everyday words do in physics. None of them require rewriting textbooks; they are things any instructor, tutor, or motivated student can insert into an existing course tomorrow. --- 1. Give the technical term a 15-second “birth certificate” --- The moment the word is introduced, burn two extra sentences into the notes: “Everyday meaning: … Physics meaning (operational): …” Do it on the board, in the slide, and in the LMS page—every time. Example: “WORK Everyday: ‘I went to work’ – a place or effort. Physics: W = ∫F·dr – energy transferred to the system by a force parallel to displacement.” Students copy the contrast, not just the formula..
After three weeks the certificate becomes automatic marginalia in their notebooks and the ambiguity never gets a chance to germinate.
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2. Keep a running “polysemy table” on the wall
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A 3-column A4 sheet taped to the side wall (or a shared Google doc):
Word | Everyday sense | Physics sense (with equation or unit)
Add rows as new terms appear. Students see the wall every class; the visual repetition does more than a one-time disclaimer. At the end of term photograph it and upload—an instant study guide.
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3. Force a context-switch mini-task every week
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Give students two sentences that use the same word differently and ask for a 2-sentence explanation of the shift. Graded only for completion.
Example:
a) “The heat is unbearable today.”
b) “In the equation ΔU = Q – W, Q is the heat added to the gas.”
Explain in 30 words why the word does not carry the same information in (a) and (b).
Takes five minutes, but repeated retrieval in contrasting contexts is the cognitive-science recipe for discrimination.
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4. Colour-code or prefix symbols that change tribe
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In electromagnetism I is current; in thermodynamics I is internal-energy flux. Pick a convention and stick to it for your course, e.g.:
I_EM vs. I_TH
or write
I (E&M) and I (th)
Even if textbooks do not standardise, your classroom does. Students report far fewer “symbol shock” errors in exams.
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5. Use “boundary sentences” in problem statements
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Explicitly fence the technical sense at the point of use:
“A 5 kg box is dragged at constant speed. In the PHYSICS SENSE of ‘work’, calculate the work done by the tension in the rope.”
The italicised phrase is a two-second vaccine against the everyday reading.
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6. Let them build the glossary themselves, but check it early
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Assign pairs a term each week; they must write a <50-word entry that contains (a) everyday meaning, (b) physics meaning, (c) one incorrect sentence they used to believe, (d) corrected version. Collect and vet before the entries go into a shared course wiki. The act of articulating their own misconception is more powerful than reading a lecturer’s perfect one.
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7. Speak the qualifier out loud
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When you talk, prepend the tribe:
“In STAT-MECH, temperature is…”,
“In CIRCUIT theory, power is…”,
“In QM, momentum is…”.
After a few lectures students start mimicking the qualifier in their own speech; the habit transfers to writing.
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8. Provide a one-page “translation cheat-sheet” before the first mid-term
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Two columns: left side lists the 20 most dangerous words (force, work, power, weight, heat, momentum, current, resistance, etc.); right side gives the operational physics definition + unit. Tell students the sheet is allowed in the exam. The security reduces anxiety, but because they still have to recognise the context, learning is not short-circuited.
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9. Use the 3-question reflection exit ticket
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End of class:
1. Word that still feels fuzzy?
2. Everyday meaning that keeps intruding?
3. Physics meaning in today’s context?
Collect, skim, and start the next lecture with the top-two conflicts resolved. Five minutes of responsiveness saves hours of later remediation.
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10. Accept that some words must be retired in your classroom
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If a term is too hopelessly contaminated (“weight” is the worst offender), simply ban it in technical discussion and substitute the unambiguous one (“gravitational force”). State the ban once, enforce politely, move on.
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Bottom line
Ambiguity is not a vocabulary problem; it is a context-discrimination problem. The fixes above do not add content; they add contrasts and retrieval practice at the exact moments the brain is primed to notice difference. Use two or three of them consistently and the incidence of “I know what it means in real life but I’m lost in the problem” drops dramatically
key remedies suggested for addressing common misunderstandings in physics education at the secondary school level:
## General Approach
*Use multiple representations* - Combine different modes of teaching the same concept:
- Material mode (physical setups/demonstrations)
- Verbal mode (spoken/written explanations)
- Symbolic mode (equations and mathematical relationships)
- Visual mode (diagrams, videos, animations, simulations)
- Gestural mode (teacher demonstrations)
*Interactive, student-centered teaching* - Maintain open dialogue with students to identify their preconceptions and misconceptions before addressing them.
## Specific Remedies for Common Misconceptions
### 1. Constant Force and Acceleration
*Misconception*: Students think constant force maintains constant velocity rather than causing acceleration.
*Remedies*:
- Use practical setups like a trolley with weights on a smooth surface to demonstrate that constant force produces increasing speed
- Employ interactive simulations (like PhET's "Force and Motion Basics") where students can apply constant force and observe the speedometer showing increasing velocity
- Use the equation F = ma to reinforce that non-zero force means acceleration must exist
### 2. Falling Objects of Different Masses
*Misconception*: Heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones.
*Remedies*:
- Demonstrate with a vacuum tube containing a feather and coin, showing they fall at the same rate when air resistance is eliminated
- Use video clips and animations showing idealized setups
- Apply mathematical equations showing that acceleration due to gravity (g) is constant regardless of mass
- Include historical stories like Galileo's experiment at the Tower of Pisa to make concepts memorable
### 3. Action-Reaction Force Pairs
*Misconception*: Students confuse weight and normal reaction as action-reaction pairs.
*Remedies*:
- Introduce free-body diagrams showing forces on separate objects to clarify that action-reaction pairs act on different bodies
- Use practical demonstrations with spring-loaded trolleys to show equal and opposite forces acting on distinct objects
### 4. Turning Effect of Forces (Moments)
*Challenge*: Connecting conceptual understanding with numerical problems.
*Remedies*:
- Provide additional representations that bridge everyday examples (like pushing doors) with numerical problem-solving
- Use interactive simulations like PhET's "Balancing Act" where students can manipulate weights on a seesaw and discover the principle of moments through experimentation
## Key Implementation Principles
Present words and visualization objects in close proximity and simultaneously, ensuring the sequence matches so visual aids supplement rather than replace text
Use variety in representations to allow students to toggle between them and reduce working memory overload
The document emphasizes that teachers should patiently identify student misconceptions through dialogue and select appropriate representation methods to supplement traditional teaching approaches.
The key skill students need to develop is moving fluidly between representations—being able to translate a vector diagram into a verbal description, or a graph into an equation, in any direction.
The researchers designed seven open-ended paper-and-pencil exercises (with 3–6 sub-items each) that guided students through different representations of force concepts. Even though teachers in the study used these only as homework with minimal class discussion, students still showed improved learning outcomes compared to baseline groups—a normalized gain of .42 versus .22, with a medium effect size,
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