Causality-compliant theory of force and motion for its innovative instruction

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25540162
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Learning support system
• Research Institution: Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: MIZOGUCHI Riichiro 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, サービスサイエンス研究センター, 特任教授 (20116106)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HIRASHIMA Tsukasa 広島大学, 大学院工学研究科, 教授 (10238355) ; HORIGUCHI Tomoya 神戸大学, 大学院海事科学研究科, 教授 (00294257)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 力学における因果推論 / 因果説明能力 / 汎用シミュレータ / 直感との親和性 / 運動の法則の新解釈 / 新しい釣り合い概念 / 作用反作用の理論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Current methods for teaching about "force and motion" depend on the use of equations and do not place emphasis on adequately supporting an understanding based on causality. One possible reason for this is the lack of a causality-compliant theory that gives a consistent treatment of the problem of action and reaction, the problem of apparent forces like centrifugal force, and so on. By adopting a naive view of causality (causality-based understanding) that agrees with human experience, we constructed a causal theory of force and motion. This theory can serve as the foundation for an educational approach in helping junior high and high school students understand and explain various phenomena related to forces and motion. Using this approach, we developed an outline of educational support methods and a general-purpose motion simulator with the ability to provide automated causal explanations of physical phenomena.

Free Research Field

オントロジー工学