A Constraint-First Pedagogy for Physics Using Minimal Experiments and Critical Discourse Analysis

This paper proposes a constraint-first pedagogical framework for physics, in which conceptual understanding is developed from minimal experimental scenarios and the constraints required by physical theory. Rather than beginning with familiar models such as particles, waves, or trajectories, the approach starts from discrete events and asks what must be true for those events to occur. Two illustrative cases—a single detection event and a lightning–retina analysis—are used to demonstrate how learners can distinguish between data, model, and interpretation. The framework introduces a staged methodology in which interpretive models are introduced only after constraint-based reasoning has been established. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is employed as a methodological tool to examine how explanatory language in physics can introduce ontological commitments that exceed what is warranted by equations and observations. The approach does not reject models, but classifies and contains them, ensuring that their epistemic status remains explicit. The findings suggest that a constraint-guided sequencing of concepts enhances conceptual clarity and reduces ontological confusion in introductory physics education. Implications include a restructuring of teaching sequences, explicit labelling of model status, and closer alignment between formal theory, observation, and language. This is a preprint of a manuscript submitted to the European Journal of Physics and has not yet undergone peer review.