Is it Disadvantageous to Teach Forces First in Mechanics?

Interactions are the heart of the mechanics course and forces are the fundamental representation of interactions. This suggests that beginning the introductory mechanics course with the topic of forces is a logical option. The majority of commercial textbooks, however, begin the mechanics course by teaching the concept of acceleration from a kinematical perspective before introducing Newton's 2nd Law. This paper presents evidence that college students in calculus-based introductory mechanics perform equally well when the course begins with forces as they do when it begins with kinematics.