Paul Hewitt's "Figuring Physics" in the Feb. 2016 issue asked whether it would take a larger velocity change to stop a satellite in a circular orbit or to cause it to escape. An extension of this problem asks: What "minimum" velocity change is required to crash a satellite into the planet, and how does that compare with the…

We measure the vertical velocities of elevators, pedestrians climbing stairs, and drones (flying unmanned aerial vehicles), by means of smartphone pressure sensors. The barometric pressure obtained with the smartphone is related to the altitude of the device via the hydrostatic approximation. From the altitude values, vertical velocities are…

Social studies teachers have an obligation to help students grapple with and thoughtfully examine controversial issues, often in a contemporary context. One such issue is the U.S. use of unmanned aerial vehicles, generally known as drones. Whether for surveillance purposes or military missions, the use of drones by the U.S. government has preceded…

There is a growing body of work in geography and sociology on the impact of drones on warfare, surveillance and civil protest. This paper assesses the challenges of using drones for teaching human geography and spatial social sciences. Affordable and expensive drones are now available in the market place; however, there has been next to no…

The proceedings of the first Language Testing Forum in 1980 were published in "ELT Documents 111: Issues in Language Testing" (Alderson & Hughes, 1981). Discussants at the 1980 Forum raised a number questions on Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) testing relating, notably, to test specificity, test content, the relationship between…

A feature of language assessment internationally is its role in the enforcement of language policies established by governments and other educational and cultural agencies. This trend has led to the near-universal adoption of curriculum and assessment frameworks, the clearest example of which is the Common European Framework of Reference for…

The purpose of this article is to explore a particular technological artifact from multiple perspectives. The artifact in question is a 1943 US military training film titled "Recognition of the Japanese Zero". The article begins with an acknowledgment of the film's behaviorist context, then discusses its aesthetic underpinnings, and concludes by…

The present study examined the stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effect in a simulated flight environment. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the effect with pure and mixed mappings in flight tasks by using attitude displays with inside-out and outside-in formats, whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a simplified display and tasks. The SRC effect was…

This article explores methodological issues in sonification and sound design arising from the design of helicopter monitoring sounds. Six monitoring sounds (each with 5 levels) were tested for similarity and meaning with 3 different techniques: hierarchical cluster analysis, linkage analysis, and multidimensional scaling. In Experiment 1,…

This article contains a description of the organization and method of use of an active learning environment named MODeLeR, (Multimedia Object Design Learning Resource), a tool designed to facilitate the learning of concepts pertaining to object modeling with the Unified Modeling Language (UML). MODeLeR was created to provide an authentic,…

For airline pilots, the call of "checklist complete" is officially prescribed talk to claim that the crew's joint conduct of a checklist is over, and the task can be understood as closed. However, very often this call is not the final talk for the task. This paper uses naturally occurring data, transcriptions of pilots interacting on actual…

The use of computer-based learning (CBL) is discussed. The author examines the appropriate use of the technology; its cost; identifying the best potential applications of CBL; and the use of CBL by major airlines, oil companies, universities, manufacturers, and government. (CT)

Presented is a description of the evolution and curriculum of the masters program in aeronautical systems at the University of West Florida between 1969 and 1976. An explanation is given of the purpose and outcome of the group theses and research project in which the students taught themselves the systems approach. (SMB)

Near the conclusion of their final term in the calculus sequence at The United States Military Academy, cadets are given a week long group project. At the end of the week, the project is briefed to their instructors, classmates, and superior officers. From a teaching perspective, the goal is to encapsulate as much of the course as possible in one…

This report includes three experiment sections. The first experiment tested sensitivity to loss in altitude and demonstrated that: (1) preview effects led to adaptation; (2) sensitivity decreased with higher flow rates; and (3) sensitivity increased with higher optical texture densities and fractional loss. The second and third experiments…