La relación con el concepto de fuerza que establecen estudiantes de secundaria

Abstract

This research characterizes the relationship that secondary school students establish with the concept of force, drawing on Bernard Charlot's theory of the relationship with knowledge. The study adopts a mixed methodological approach: qualitatively, a knowledge balance is applied, an instrument that allows students to construct a narrative about their learning of the concept throughout their life history, with responses analyzed using the discursive textual analysis proposed by Moraes (2003) and Charlot's categories (2009b); quantitatively, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) by Hestenes et al. (1992) is administered in two sessions, before and after a pedagogical intervention, with results analyzed using the concentration factor developed by Bao and Redish (2001). The intervention consisted of an activity carried out in the computer lab, where students explored motion simulators on PhET and built their own simulations in GeoGebra, following a sequence from uniform rectilinear motion to understanding force as the cause of trajectory change. The results of the knowledge balance show that the three dimensions of the relationship with knowledge epistemic, identity-related, and social are present in students' construction of the concept, and that their initial notions follow a trajectory resembling the historical development of the concept of force. The analysis of the FCI using Bao's evolution vectors shows that 37.9% of the questions presented ideal evolution, 44.8% partial evolution, and 17.2% involution, with a gain that indicates an improvement in conceptual understanding that, while meaningful, points to the need for longer intervention periods and better working conditions to achieve deeper conceptual transformation.