Experiments involving RC circuits are an integral part of introductory physics courses. Previous articles using RC circuits describe determining the charge on a Van de Graaff generator, measuring currents and voltages in a charging RC circuit using a multimeter or an Arduino, measuring the decay constants of complex RC circuits, and using the…

Most physics courses begin with one-dimensional kinematics, which is usually restricted to the case of constant acceleration. Here we report a unique exercise for an introductory algebra-based physics course involving the running and non-constant acceleration of the theropod dinosaur "Dilophosaurus wetherilli" and the world-famous…

During the pandemic and lockdown situations of the last few years, we transitioned to online, physical, and hybrid education approaches at various times. We had difficulty teaching multiple calculus and analytical geometry units online. In light of the current situation, a graphical user interface (GUI) teaching tool has been developed to teach…

We present a complete, soup to nuts, modeling activity of a falling column of water. Many colleagues have used this material in teaching applications of first order separable differential equations. We describe how the material can be presented with students collecting their own data from online videos. One can then either offer the differential…

This paper describes a way to simulate and visualise 3D representations of the resultant electric field vector propagation for plane, circular and elliptically polarised waves. These polarisation states are obtained by the superposition of two coherent linearly polarised waves oscillating in two mutually perpendicular directions. The required data…

In many science and engineering undergraduate programmes, physics courses are fundamental and can be seen as a potential place where students can develop complementary abilities such as the computational thinking process. The present work proposes and describes the learning science and engineering with electronic spreadsheets cycle (LSEESC)…

A spreadsheet plotting assignment of real-life data from a racecar is employed to help students master the relationships among speed, acceleration, and distance. The racecar application will capture the imagination and interest of the student. The data is obtained by reading speedometer values from a YouTube video for 40 s as a racecar accelerates…

Computational thinking in physics has many different forms, definitions, and implementations depending on the level of physics or the institution it is presented in. To better integrate computational thinking in introductory physics, we need to understand what physicists find important about computational thinking in introductory physics. We…