The Reproduction of Scientific Understanding about Pendulum Motion in the Public

This paper describes life-span development ofunderstanding about pendulum motion and effectsof school science. The subjects were 2,766 peopleranging from kindergartners up to 88 years seniorcitizens. The conflict and consensus between childrenand their parent's understanding of pendulum motionwere also analyzed. The kindergartner's understanding,mostly non-scientific, made a marked developmental changeto another type of non-scientific understanding by thetime they reach G 4. Parents with scientific understandingdo not presumably nurture scientifically minded children,even though about half of them can apply scientificconceptions that shorter pendulums swing faster, andthe amplitude and speed of pendulum motion do not dependon its weight. There seems to be another type ofdevelopmental change from scientific understanding tonon-scientific understanding around their fifties. Itis suggested that the scientific understanding in thepublic about pendulum motion become predominant due tothe educational intervention through school science.