The initial knowledge state of college physics students

@article{Halloun1985TheIK,
  title={The initial knowledge state of college physics students},
  author={Ibrahim A. Halloun and David Hestenes},
  journal={American Journal of Physics},
  year={1985},
  volume={53},
  pages={1043-1055},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:9622097}
}
An instrument to assess the basic knowledge state of students taking a first course in physics has been designed and validated. Measurements with the instrument show that the student’s initial qualitative, common sense beliefs about motion and causes has a large effect on performance in physics, but conventional instruction induces only a small change in those beliefs. 
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