The success of films such as "Avengers: Endgame," "Black Panther," and "Captain Marvel" has established the superhero genre in modern popular culture. Many students will have seen these films, or at the very least they are familiar with a number of the superhero characters. In the physics classroom, content based on…

Most didactic lab experiments deal with the influence of temperature, concentration, pressure, surface area, and catalysts on chemical kinetics; however, few of them explore the influence of light radiation and the presence of inhibitor agents on reaction rates. In order to investigate the effects of the radiation source and the presence of…

This inquiry-based lesson gets students moving to simulate chemical reactions in a way that allows them to visualize, understand, and retain information about chemical reactions in the stratosphere. Students then look at scientific data and conduct research to understand trends in the data and the impact of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These…

There is a relatively simple way of using radioactive material in classroom experiments: uranium glass, which provides teachers with a suitable substance. By using the right computer software and a radiation sensor, it can be demonstrated that uranium glass emits radiation at a greater rate than the background radiation and with the aid of UV…

Nanoscience development affects almost every discipline of science, engineering, and technology. Not surprisingly, "the science of small" is also finding its way into science classrooms. In general, "nano" refers to a billionth of a meter--about 1/50,000 the width of a hair follicle. The term "nanoparticle" usually…

A possible link between cancer and the usage of mobile phones has been widely discussed in the media in the last 10 years. It is no surprise that students keep asking their physics teacher for advice regarding the handling of mobile phones and mobile phone radiation. This article aims to help teachers include this interesting topic in the…

What is the Sun? What effect does it have on the Earth? How do we protect ourselves from the Sun's harmful rays? These are a few of the questions the author wanted her kindergarten students to explore regarding the Sun and solar energy. Using the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) framework that notes kindergarten students should…

Art and science help students investigate light energy and practice fair testing. With the goal of finding a way to save "Beady Kid" from invisible rays, students used science practices to investigate the transfer of light energy from the Sun. During this art-integrated science lesson presented in this article, upper elementary (grades…

This article describes a lesson on the greenhouse effect in which students explore blackbody radiation and Wien's law. The lesson, which has been tested in a variety of high school physics classrooms, uses probeware and online simulations and combines two well-established instructional strategies: the 5E Learning Cycle (Bybee et al. 2006) and the…

Sunscreens have different levels of protection, measured most commonly with the sun protection factor (SPF). Students initially believed higher SPF factors mean greater sun protection and learned through this activity that higher SPF does not mean greater protection. Students analyzed the amount of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protection and…

The Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry (ITSI) project is a learning portal with hundreds of free, customizable science, math, and engineering activities funded by the National Science Foundation at the Concord Consortium, a nonprofit research and development organization dedicated to transforming education through technology. The project…

What follows is a description of several activities involving the Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law that can provide laboratory experience beyond what is normally found in traditional introductory thermodynamics experiments on thermal expansion, specific heat, and heats of transformation. The activities also provide more extensive coverage of and…

It is frequently said that a good teacher will spice up their lessons with anecdotes and stories associated with the subject as these help to bring the subject alive. This is true in teaching radioactivity but it is not always easy to find a useful fund of stories--especially for a non-specialist. Paula Kennedy shares the stories and anecdotes…

Silently, invisibly, ceaselessly, our planet Earth is showered by radio waves from every direction and from every region of space. This radio energy originates in our solar system, throughout the Milky Way galaxy, and far beyond, out to the remotest reaches of the universe. Detecting and unraveling the origins of these invisible signals is what…

We introduce a model of radiative transfer in circumstellar dust shells. By assuming that the shell is both isothermal and its thickness is small compared to its radius, the model is simple enough for students to grasp and yet still provides a quantitative description of the relevant physical features. The isothermal model can be used in a…