Many current studies have discovered that students tend to use either an Aristotelian or the Medieval impetus model rather than the Newtonian view in order to explain their experience. This preconceived knowledge may be important for students in learning mechanics. The purpose of this study was to identify and confirm the existence of a non-Newtonian view of certain mechanical concepts among fourth-grade and eleventh-grade students and to test the relationships between preconceived knowledge and giftedness. The gifted students were classified by their IQ scores (130 or above). Results showed that the findings were generally consistent with other studies indicating that students use more of an Aristotelian-Impetus model than a Newtonian view. There was no difference between gifted and non-gifted samples either at the fourth or eleventh grade in the preconceived knowledge test. This result suggests that students from samples of diverse intellectual development possess similar preconceived views about motion. Appendices include a Piagetian Formal Reasoning Test, Preconceived Knowledge Test, bibliography and an index. (YP)