Newton's Law - A Theory of motion or force?

Abstract

Regular disciplinary instruction of introductory physics at high school often misses a holistic perspective of the subject matter, its structure and hierarchy. We have considered the domain of mechanics and provided such a perspective in a summative lecture by framing mechanics contents in discipline-culture framework. In the experimental teaching, we focused on Newton's laws of motion as the nucleus of classical mechanics. Considering mechanics as a culture, that is, addressing the debate with periphery conceptions, caused students to appreciate the fact that mechanics is about theory of motion, while forces present only a certain conception to account for it.