Building on studies that explored children’s understanding of gravity (see Kavanagh and Sneider 2007a and 2007b
for a review) and physics students’ understanding of gravity (for example, Sharma et al. 2004 and Dostal 2005),
Williamson andWilloughby (2012) implemented a grounded theory method (Creswell 2007) and phenomenographic
analysis of Astro 101 student-supplied responses to twenty-three open-ended questions about gravity. This process
was essential to uncovering the breadth of Astro 101 student ideas related to gravity. In this section, we recap the
main student alternative models and misapplications of the scientific model of Newtonian gravity.