Although acoustics examples and demonstrations can be an effective tool for engaging students in introductory physics classes and outreach, teaching principles of sound and vibration to the deaf and hard of hearing needs to be approached carefully. The deaf and hard of hearing have less intuition with sound but are no strangers to some of the…

An operational understanding of Newton's third law is often elusive for students. Typical examples of this concept are given for contact forces that are closer to the students' everyday experience. While this is a good thing in general, the reaction force can sometimes be taken for granted, and the students can miss the opportunity to really think…

When working on an oral history project, my brother recommended that I download a free audio recording and editing program called Audacity[R]. I have since discovered that it is a fantastic tool for students to visualize sound waves and to understand the meaning of amplitude, frequency, and superposition. This paper describes a collection of…

In my previous article on apparatus named after physicists and physics teachers, I discussed five relatively common pieces of apparatus from the 1875-1910 era. Now I will go back to the 18th and early-19th centuries to discuss eponymous apparatus that we are still using in lecture demonstrations. [For Part I, see EJ912907.]

Interactive lecture demonstrations (ILDs) are a powerful tool designed to help instructors bring state-of-the-art teaching pedagogies into the college-level introductory physics classroom. ILDs have been shown to improve students' conceptual understanding, and many examples have been created and published by Sokoloff and Thornton. We have used the…

The report, "The Ready to Teach Program: A Federal Initiative in Support of Online Courses for Teachers", describes the history of the Ready to Teach Program and its role as one of the solutions to the national need to increase the performance of teachers through professional development. The report describes selected findings from the Eisenhower…

TWO STUDIES CONCERNED WITH THE REPRESENTATIONAL ROLE OF DEMONSTRATIONS IN TEACHING CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE ARE REPORTED. THE TWO STUDIES WERE PERFORMED WITH DIMENSIONS OF VISUAL TV PRESENTATIONS VARIED IN THE CONTEXT OF PROGRAMED LESSONS. STUDY ONE COMPARES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REALISTIC (LIVE) WITH NONREALISTIC (ANIMATED)…

Provides a brief overview of current geographic ideas regarding continental drift and plate tectonics and suggests techniques for illustrating continental motions to elementary school pupils. (Author/DB)

Describes the process of developing an environmental education program that uses high school science students as mentors to elementary students. (MKR)

Describes how to create good physics programs in small colleges. (PR)

Described are techniques and activities that seven different teachers are using in their chemistry programs. These programs were selected as winners of the 1983-84 Search for Excellence in Science Education. (DH)

Writing can be seen as a tool to be manipulated by students to access, construct, and evaluate knowledge. Many students will finish six years of high school science education quite ill-equipped for the literacy demands of college. This paper highlights a genre approach to language adopted by a literacy program. (20 references) (Author/MKR)

Describes an innovative, but not revolutionary, secondary education science program that is modeled after American graduate education. Discussions include a comparison of pedagogical approaches, implementation, the teacher, facilities, and teaching strategies. (ZWH)

The proceedings from a 1980 conference on secondary education of the handicapped presents 32 papers on the topic along with 6 papers not presented at the conference. A keynote address by P. Fanning, which considered future needs and trends in secondary programing is summarized. Additional papers touch on such issues as Project NEEDS (a…

Surveyed 114 teachers (100 percent response rate) associated with exemplary elementary science programs on longevity, confidence, professional involvement, familiarity of curricular materials, inservice, and teaching methods. Comparison with a national sample indicates these teachers have long-term program involvement, a great deal of confidence,…