Ever since Newton's groundbreaking work on the composed nature of light, additive colour mixing (and its laws) are subject to the interest of physicists as well as other sciences. In this paper, we present a setup for simple lab or home experiments on additive colour mixing and the laws of colour mixing. Students use the screen of a laptop or…

This article showcases how a Wi-Fi based LED light system that flickers to indicate probability of auroral manifestation became a beacon of inquiry, interest, and critical thinking amongst preservice teachers, staff, and passersby in a teacher education program. Beyond articulating the design phase of the system, highlighted here are the three…

This paper demonstrates the use of a smartphone as a low-cost multi-channel optical fibre spectrophotometer suitable for physics laboratory classes. A custom-designed cradle and structure support were fabricated using 3D printing. The plastic optical fibres were arranged and inserted into the hole of the cradle to guide the light to the rear…

The 'Moss Safari' activity was developed to assist with knowing which organisms to look for when observing a drop of water squeezed from moss for the first time. In this case study, the activity was introduced online to 34 trainee science teachers. This was followed by a post-session questionnaire evaluating their experience of the Moss Safari.…

This paper presents a system for remote monitoring of turbidity data that can detect light intensity and temperature using a microcontroller and the Internet of Things. The system comprises a light dependent resistor and infrared temperature sensor interfaced with an ESP-12E microcontroller, a programmable data acquisition platform; together these…

A highly simplified variation on the do-it-yourself spectrophotometer using a smartphone's light sensor as a detector and an app to calculate and display absorbance values was constructed and tested. This simple version requires no need for electronic components or postmeasurement spectral analysis. Calibration graphs constructed from two…

This paper shows how very simple circuitry attached to an Arduino microcontroller with MakerPlot software can be used for the display of electrical characteristic curves of three commonly available devices: an ohmic resistor, an LED, and a tungsten-filament bulb.

Routinely used in quantitative determination of various analytes, UV-vis spectroscopy is commonly taught in undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses. Because the technique measures the absorbance of light through the samples, losses from reflection and scattering by large molecules interfere with the measurement. To emphasize the importance of…

We present an educational approach to the phenomenon of phosphorescent emission. The approach is based on a stochastic toy model, in which electron states are represented by rows of squares on a cardboard table, and coins on the squares switch from one row to the other based on the roll of two dice. The discussion of different mechanisms, giving…

Factors such as innovations brought in by the developing technology, also rapidly changing social structures casted various roles to both the student and the teacher. Therefore, it is necessary to associate such knowledge acquired in courses with implications of the knowledge in our real lives and to constantly enrich course contents, namely to…

Fluorescence quenching is an analytical technique and a common undergraduate laboratory exercise. Unfortunately, a typical quenching experiment requires the use of an expensive fluorometer that measures the relative fluorescence intensity of a single sample in a closed compartment unseen by the experimenter. To overcome these shortcomings, we…

Using an ALTA II reflectance spectrometer, the USGS digital spectral library, graphs of planetary spectra, and a few mineral hand samples, one can teach how light can be used to study planets and moons. The author created the hands-on, inquiry-based activity for an undergraduate planetary science course consisting of freshman to senior level…

Computer-assisted experiments with CdS and CdSe photoresistors are described. The most important characteristics of the photoresistors are determined: (i) the spectral response, (ii) the photocurrent versus incident radiant power, (iii) the rise and decay time constants and (iv) the frequency response to modulated light. The photoconductivity gain…

The introduction of teaching about liquid crystals is discussed from several points of view: the rationale why to teach them, the basics about liquid crystals or what the teacher should teach about them, the fundamental pre-knowledge of students required, the set of experiments accompanying the teaching and the brief report on the already…

The purpose of this study is to develop a new approach and assess the application for the science and technology student-teachers to gain varied laboratory methods in science and technology teaching. It is also aimed to describe the computer-assisted POE application in the subject of "Photosynthesis-Light" developed in the context of…