Implementing a Five-Phase Experiential-Based Deep Learning Model to Support Students' Conceptual Understanding of Force in Secondary School

Students' conceptual understanding of force is challenged by persistent difficulties in interpreting interactions, resultant forces, and changes in motion. This study examined the classroom implementation of a five-phase Experiential-Based Deep Learning (EBDL) instructional model designed to connect firsthand observation with reflection, evidence-based explanation, and transfer. A quasi-experimental nonequivalent pretest–posttest design involved 40 eighth-grade students at one Indonesian junior secondary school, with 20 students receiving EBDL and 20 receiving Direct Instruction. Conceptual understanding was assessed using five essay items on force; expert content ratings yielded an overall Aiken's V of 0.870 after recalculation. Available group-level posttest results favored the EBDL group (M = 85.85, SD = 5.51) over the control group (M = 81.30, SD = 7.00). The reported Mann–Whitney test indicated a between-group difference (U = 124.00, Z = −2.06, p = 0.039, r = 0.326). The model's distinctive instructional contribution is its explicit progression from discrepant experiences through reflective meaning-making and force-based reasoning to contextual application and transfer. However, aggregate posttest results do not establish which cognitive process benefited most, whether individual misconceptions were corrected, or the magnitude of pretest-to-posttest change. These findings support further testing of EBDL as a structured, context-sensitive alternative for junior secondary force instruction, with stronger item-level and implementation evidence required before wider causal or generalizable claims are made.