Discovery Cycle as Strategy of Science Teaching

Abstract

Abstract The discovery cycle is a strategy for reaching the scientific knowledge trough of discovery. We are applying this strategy with physics students of Mechanics Laboratory of the first year of university. The cycle is focused on research the dynamical behaviors of mechanical systems modeled with Newton’s Laws. It consists of seven stages: exploration, experimentation, empirical modeling, theoretical modeling, numerical modeling, model results versus experiment and prediction. Students carry out this strategy in a specific context of a mechanics system. In this paper, we analyze this strategy with a group of 24 students in the study of the motion of an object, sliding on a tilted plane, and present the results we got in the application of this strategy.