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Observations on teaching first-year physics

Sanjoy Mahajan
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Abstract

Highly successful students, as measured by grades and by scores on the Force Concept Inventory, still struggle with fundamental concepts in mathematics and physics. These difficulties, which turn physics into parrot learning and include confusing velocity and acceleration or being unable to reason with graphs, are revealed by problems requiring estimation and conceptual reasoning. I discuss these problems, the difficulties that they reveal, and suggest possible remedies.

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Sanjoy Mahajan. 2005-12-16. Observations on teaching first-year physics. https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512158

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