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Unlearning Aristotelian physics: a study of knowledge-based learning

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DISESSA, A·1982·Cognitive Science

Abstract

A study of a group of elementary school students learning to control a computer-implemented Newtonian object reveals a surprisingly uniform and detailed collection of strategies, at the core of which is a robust “Aristotelian” expectation that things should move in the direction they are last pushed. A protocol of an undergraduate dealing with the same situation shows a large overlap with the set of strategies used by the elementary school children and thus a marked lack of influence of classroom physics training on this student's naive physics. The data from these two studies are pooled and elaborated into a “genetic task analysis” of how one might come to understand Newtonian dynamics as a more or less natural evolution from the naive state.

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Metadata

Authors
DISESSA, A.
Venue
Cognitive Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
1982-03
Volume
6
Issue
1
Pages
37-75
ISSN
0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2059694633
Cited by
496
References
0
FWCI
99.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
bronze

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Unlearning Aristotelian physics: a study of knowledge-based learning. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/s0364-0213(82)80005-0
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DISESSA, A. (1982). Unlearning Aristotelian physics: a study of knowledge-based learning. Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0364-0213(82)80005-0

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