This study undertook iconicity ratings and conducted transparency experiments on Israeli Sign Language (ISL). Experiment 1 compared the iconicity ratings of 520 lexical signs of ten Deaf ISL signers and thirteen hearing non-signers. Ratings were found to be affected by language knowledge, lexical class, and type of iconic mapping, as well as by…

Circus art excites amazes and delights. Most of circus genres are based on the principles of classical physics. Dialogic discussions are known as an instrument to identify conceptual barriers (misconceptions) and facilitate their further revision. The present study integrates the three worlds: physics education, dialogic teaching and circus art;…

Circular motion is embedded in many circus tricks, and is also one of the most challenging topics for both students and teachers. Previous studies have identified several misconceptions about circular motion, and especially about the forces that act upon a rotating object. A commonly used demonstration of circular motion laws by physics teachers…

We suggest an activity for measuring the speed of a bicycle going in circular motion by measuring the bicycle's lean angle. In this activity students will be able to feel the strength that is being activated on their bodies while they are moving in circular motion. They will also understand that it is impossible to ride in a circle without the…

Music experience in childhood has beneficial effects on early cognitive and linguistic development. Most children under the age of five experience music every day, with family members. Yet, few studies that have focused on "Parental Musical Engagement" (PME). The issue is there are but few psychometrically standardized measures that…

Newborns possess a natural ability for correct body posture, but most of us lose this ability to the extent of causing damage and consequently a decline in quality of life. Damage can be manifested in pain (mainly in the back), decline in functioning, and damage to emotional aspects of life. To examine the nature of the connection between body…

In high-school teaching of mechanics, we deal, among other things, with the nature of static and kinetic friction, forces that are proportional to the normal force. Under the influence of frictional forces, a body moves down a rough sloped decline at a fixed rate of acceleration that is independent of its mass. This situation does not apply to…

I examined the impact of a self-diagnosis activity on students' conceptual understanding and achievements in physics. This activity requires students to self-diagnose their solutions to problems that they have solved on their own--namely, to identify and explain their errors--and self-score them--that is, assign scores to their solutions--aided by…

In light of the established validity of the pendulum as a topic in physics curricula (Matthews 2000), the study looked at the place of pendulum motion in the physics curriculum of the high school in Israel.The data is available through presenting results of the nationwide matriculation examination in its units of Mechanics and Research Laboratory…

This paper focuses on the cognitive processes that occur while students are exploring motion graphs. In a classroom experiment, we examine how high-school students (aged 17), with backgrounds in calculus and physics, interpret the graphs they create through drawing the path of the movement of their hand with a computer mouse. Based on recent, and…

The consistency, if any, with which force concepts are used by individual students in different, but closely related, contexts was investigated. A total of 534 university and high school students were tested to elicit their beliefs about the forces acting on various objects. Students' beliefs about the forces acting on objects at rest and in…

A study (n=631) of children's ideas on motion of objects is reported. On three items of a four-part questionnaire, responses changed as the children matured, passing through distinct, successive stages with respect to their conceptual understanding. If teaching strategies to overcome misconceptions are to be effective, they must be appropriate to…

Describes a hierarchical system of problem-solving strategies employed for the solution of a specific kind of problem about speed. Presents the results of 563 high school students tested with problems relating to distance, speed, and time. Provides a rationale for the methods used. (TW)