The use of intuitive rules in interpreting students' difficulties in reading and creating kinematic graphs

The ability to form and interpret kinematic graphs is an essential skill for students studying physics. The literature, however, details a variety of students' difficulties in this regard. The present article discusses how intuitive rules theory (Stavy and Tirosh. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 18, 653 (1996)) can be applied as a conceptual framework for understanding why some of these difficulties may occur. It suggests, moreover, that explicit teaching regarding students' use of intuitive rules in interpreting kinematic graphs may deepen students' general understanding of graphs in physics. PACS No.: 01.40.-d. La capacite de creer et d'interpreter les graphes cinematiques est une habilete essentielle pour les etudiants qui etudient la physique. Cependant, la litterature abonde sur les difficultes rencontrees par les etudiants a cet effet. Nous discutons ici une theorie de regles intuitives (Stavy and Tirosh. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 18, 653 (1996)) qui peuvent etre appliquees comme cadre conceptuel pour comprendre pourquoi ces difficultes apparaissent. Elle suggere de plus qu'un enseignement explicite portant sur l'utilisation par l'etudiant des regles intuitives en interpretant les graphes cinematiques peut ameliorer la comprehension generale chez l'etudiant des graphes en physique. [Traduit par la Redaction]
Introduction Simple observations and experiences in the world do not lead in an immediate way to the concepts and theories we find useful in science. Einstein and Infeld [1] argue [...]