Quantum science is in the news daily and engages students' interest and curiosity. A fundamental quantum science concept that underpins medical imaging, quantum computing and many future technologies is quantum spin. Quantum spin can explain many physical phenomena that are in the lower secondary school curriculum, such as magnetism and light,…

Einstein's derivation of special relativity theory (SRT), based on hypothetical reasoning and thought experiments, is regarded as a prime example of physics theory development. In secondary education, the introduction of SRT could provide a great opportunity for students to engage in physics theorizing, but this opportunity is largely being missed…

The magnetic switch is part of common low-cost devices such as window alarms. Its operation is based on magnetic properties of ferromagnetic material. The paper describes our experience with using window alarm device in a course called 'How things work', which is elective course for first year physics majors. Specifically, we report on the…

Electromagnetic (EM) waves are indispensable in modern telecommunications. Despite their essential role in modern technology, EM waves are considered to be an abstract concept by many students. In this activity, an inexpensive two-coil system was constructed in a teaching laboratory and used to demonstrate information transfer by non-sinusoidal EM…

Magnetism is traditionally taught within the subject of electromagnetism at the undergraduate and graduate levels in physics courses, with the goal of establishing a solid foundation of the underlying physical mechanisms before advancing to more specialized topics. Oftentimes, a laboratory component of these courses involves practical, hands-on…

We provide a design for a low cost orientable search coil that can be used to investigate the variation of magnetic flux with angle. This experiment is one of the required practical activities in the current A level physics specification for the AQA examination board in the UK. We demonstrate its performance and suggest other suitable…

The current research is to give an example to the inquiry-based science teaching implementations for facilitating knowledge acquisition and retention in a short period of time. Thus, the aim of the research is to transfer of acquired knowledge into different situations using sequential inquiry activities, which have challenging questions for…

The aim of this study is to introduce an activity on magnetic fields prepared in order to improve high school students' views on the nature of science. The activity was prepared according to explicit-reflective approach, which is one of the nature of science teaching methods. The nature of science elements intended to obtain with the activity are…

The bicycle generator is often mentioned as an example of a method to produce electric energy. It is cheap and easily accessible, so it is a natural example to use in teaching. There are different types, but I prefer the old side-wall dynamo. The most common explanation of its working principle seems to be something like the illustration in Fig.…

The operation of the puzzling "forever spin" top is explained. This toy makes an intriguing basis for discussion of the physical principles involved. (Contains 8 figures and 1 footnote.)

Creative learning is discussed with respect to a specific physics topic. A teaching example, based on an apparatus that demonstrates the standard dynamo model of geomagnetism, is presented. It features many of the basic physics concepts within the syllabus of electromagnetism at high-school and university. To stimulate conceptual learning and to…

Based on our experience of teaching physics in middle and senior secondary school, we have found that students have difficulty in reasoning at the microscopic level. Their reasoning is limited to the observational level so they have problems in developing scientific models of magnetism. Here, we suggest several practical activities and the use of…

One of the very popular demonstrations used in introductory physics courses to illustrate Lenz's law is the "slowly falling magnet." In its simplest version it requires only a powerful cylindrical magnet and a metal tube, typically of copper or aluminum. When dropped in the tube the magnet takes significantly longer to reach the other end than a…

We analyse the force acting on a moving dipole due to an external electromagnetic field and show that the expression derived in Vekstein (1997 "Eur. J. Phys." 18 113) is erroneous and suggest the correct equation for the description of this force. We also discuss the physical meaning of the relativistic transformation of current for a closed…

Over the last few decades, smart materials have become increasingly important in the design of products. Essentially, a smart material is one that has been designed to respond to a stimulus, such as a change in temperature or magnetic field, in a particular and useful way. This article looks at a range of smart materials that are relatively…