Preservice Physics teachers’ conceptions of FORCE An exploratory study with the Repertory Grid Method

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates the use of the repertory-grid method to study preservice physics teachers’ conceptualizations of FORCE. The article first situates the concept in relation to historical and philosophical debates about causality, interaction, fields, constraints, and whether FORCE remains necessary in modern physics. It then connects these issues to research in psychology and science education on intuitive physics, and conceptual change. On this basis, the study develops a repertory-grid interview design using twelve visual elements representing various force-related situations. The contribution is methodological: it shows how repertory-grid interviews can reveal the contrastive constructs through which teachers organize force-related situations, beyond a simple inventory of misconceptions or correct definitions. Our findings show that participants did not organize the situations according to a single disciplinary classification. Instead, their representations drew on multiple intersecting criteria, including contact and action at a distance, equilibrium, motion, scale, physical interaction, mechanical constraint, and pedagogical considerations. Across participants, scientifically relevant distinctions coexisted with contextual and representational criteria, resulting in multidimensional and context-sensitive organizations of FORCE. These findings suggest that the repertory-grid method provides a useful means of examining how formal and intuitive conceptual resources coexist and are differentially activated across physical situations.