In this article, we tackle the phenomenon of what seems to be a misunderstanding between science education theory and philosophy of science--one which does not seem to have received any attention in the literature. While there seems to be a consensus within the realm of science education on limiting or altogether denying the explanatory role of…

Interfacial, or surface tension, is a significant topic in chemical education. This paper describes the directional motion of gallium-based liquid metal drops, resulting from a difference of interfacial tension across the drop. This demonstration can engage students in discovering the underlying chemical principles. A mechanism for the drop's…

Energy conversion devices such as fuel cells, metal-air batteries, and electrolyzers have been envisaged as possible solutions for cutting down the continuous accumulation of greenhouse gases resulting from the combustion of fossil fuel. The bottleneck reaction for these devices is the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) occurring at the cathode. The…

The simple demonstration presented, herein, involves the combustion of acetylene liberated from the rapid hydrolysis of 0.50 g of calcium carbide. The unsaturated hydrocarbon formed burns with a yellow sooty flame in air. This acetylene-air flame being visually attractive is often misused by those attempting to showcase their illusory magical…

We investigate learning difficulties among second-year students in electromagnetism courses when they apply Ampère-Maxwell's law. Using phenomenography, we analyzed written answers from 65 undergraduate physics students to four questions on Ampère's and Ampère-Maxwell's laws. We complemented our research by interviewing 12 students. To design the…

Teaching special relativity to lower-division students is challenging because results such as time dilation, length contraction, and frame dependence of simultaneity are counterintuitive. The literature is extensive, so only a brief list is given here, with articles divided roughly between discussions of general principles and calculations applied…

In this article we analyze the classic Hodgkin and Keynes 1955 paper describing investigations of the independence principle, with the expectation that there is much students and educators can learn from such exercises, most notably how the authors applied their diverse skill set to tackling the numerous obstacles that the study presented. The…

The conventional approach to teaching blackbody radiation in introductory modern physics courses relies on an oversimplified explanation of Wien's displacement law, which does not uphold students' conceptual understanding of Planck's law and can lead to well-known misconceptions. Thus, there is a need to clarify the pedagogical role of this…

Although Ohm's law contains various possibilities in teaching and learning scientific inquiry, it is rare for students to experience an authentic inquiry. Thus, we designed an open-ended in-depth inquiry about Ohm's law and made students conduct it. To do this, we developed a laboratory activity for students following a standard method of Ohm's…

Background: Teachers' views of nature of science (NOS) play a key-role in how they teach science and can significantly impact their students' understanding of and achievement in science. NOS has been a curriculum goal in science education for several decades. Therefore, there is a need for assessment tools that can examine views of NOS in the…

This study investigated evidence of how students' mental models of fundamental kinematic relations evolved (i.e., developed cognitively over time) as observed during an introductory course in calculus-based classical mechanics. The core of the curriculum is based on a claim known as Galileo's principle of relativity. The course material comprised…

This study employed a case study methodology to investigate students' misconceptions about solid, liquid, and atmospheric pressure. The research included 36 8th-grade students from various middle schools in Giresun, comprising 19 girls and 17 boys. Data collection involved a test consisting of 14 concept cartoon questions, and the concept cartoons…

In this work, we present an experimental approximation to the study of the phenomenon of radioactivity in secondary schools, taking as an analogy the process of release of carbon dioxide in a carbonated beverage. In this way, we intend to facilitate the approach to the mathematical formalism and to the graphical description of this phenomenon, as…

Since its debut in Elihu Thomson's 1886 article "Novel Phenomena of Alternating Currents," the Thomson jumping ring apparatus has been a popular and captivating demonstration of magnetic induction. The components are quite simple. There is a solenoid, an iron core, and a ring. The demonstration usually begins with the professor saying…

Newton's laws are a ubiquitous topic in introductory physics instruction. One common problem involves asking what will happen if you stick your finger into a cup of water sitting on a scale. A way to solve the problem would be to first recognize that the water exerts a buoyant force upward on the finger, which students can recognize as being the…