‘‘Aristotelian’’ was given as the answer, but what was the question?

Abstract

Students come to physics instruction, in Newtonian mechanics, with naive ideas about how and why things move; for example, many believe that force causes motion and, conversely, that in the absence of a force things are necessarily at rest. Moreover, such preconceived ideas interfere with the ability of students to learn, and function within, the Newtonian paradigm. These student ideas have been labeled ‘‘Aristotelian,’’ a catchy label that has rapidly become widely accepted. This paper shows that these student beliefs are not like those of Aristotle, questions the hypothesis that generated the label, and describes a danger, to the sound growth of knowledge, inherent in the use of theory-ladened nomenclature. The purpose of the paper is to suggest that the label be abandoned so that this important line of research, with its profound implications for teachers, may develop unhindered by the weight of incorrect, theory-driven nomenclature.