Socratic dialogue and guided experimentation: an approach to teaching mechanics in physics teacher training

This article analyses a didactic activity developed with pre-service physics teachers aimed at investigating the evolution of students’ reasoning when confronted with a novel problem involving forces and the application of Newton’s laws. The proposal integrated guided experimentation and Socratic dialogue as mediating strategies to foster conceptual reflection and critical thinking. Participants were challenged to explain a non-everyday phenomenon—fixing a pen to a wall without using glue—and to represent their ideas through free-body diagrams. The Socratic dialogue, conducted by the researchers, encouraged hypothesis formulation, identification of contradictions, and collective conceptual reconstruction. The dialogues generated during the activity were transcribed and analysed using Bardin’s content analysis methodology within a qualitative research framework. The results indicate that the approach promoted engagement, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of physical concepts, underscoring the pedagogical potential of dialogic interaction and experimentation in physics education. The study contributes to the initial training of physics teachers by evidencing the value of dialogical and inquiry-based practices. Supplementary material is provided, including a detailed description of the activity, excerpts from students’ dialogues, free-body diagrams produced during the intervention, and the analytical procedures adopted, supporting transparency and facilitating replication or adaptation of the proposed approach.