Visual representation in school textbooks plays an important role for physics teaching and learning. The integration of graphics with text has drawn attention of physics educators in recent years due to the close relationship between graphics and relevant text. The purpose of this study is to examine visual representation of optical content in…

The inquiry-based learning model can facilitate students' understanding of scientific concepts. Scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs) are related to students' beliefs about the nature of the process of knowledge in science education. However, whether the "prediction-observation-explanation" (POE) inquiry-based learning model can…

Light interference is an essential topic for understanding the wavelike nature of light, however, there are limited studies on modeling and assessing students' misconceptions and learning difficulties in this area. Based on the knowledge integration modeling approach, a conceptual framework for light interference is developed and used to model…

Gel filtration chromatography (GFC) separates molecules according to size and is one of the most widely used methods for protein purification. Here, red fluorescent protein (RFP), green fluorescent protein (GFP), yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), cyan fluorescent protein (CFP), and/or their fusion proteins were prokaryotically expressed, purified,…

Two classrooms on opposite sides of the world happened to be working on a very similar project at the same time. In both Shanghai, China, and Palm Springs, California, students were learning how to turn their flashlights and other light-emitting objects into paintbrushes. Light painting is a form of long-exposure photography in which the shutter…

Chinese "magic" mirrors are made from bronze with the front side a mirror and the reverse side a molded image. When light is reflected from the mirror,the image on the reverse side appears. Discusses reflections of conventional mirrors, possible explanations for the magic mirror phenomenon, and applications of the phenomenon to…