A Study on Engineering Freshman Conceptual Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics

Force concept inventory is a multiple-choice questionnaire commonly used to assess students’ conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics. We here show that a cluster analysis method can be used to study student answers to the force concept inventory to investigate their understanding of Newtonian mechanics and provide new insights into the use of the force concept inventory. We identi- fied groups of students characterized by similar correct answers as well as by non- correct answers to the questionnaire, whose analysis allowed us to highlight student misconceptions/non-normative conceptions. Such an analysis of student answers gave us insights into the relationships between the student ideas about the force concept and their ability to correctly answer questions involving the first and second Newton’s law.