With the availability of educational digital data acquisition systems, it has also become possible in physics education to generate 'big' data sets by (a) measuring multiple variables simultaneously, (b) increasing the sample rate, (c) extending the measurement duration, or (d) choosing a combination among these three options. In the context of…

We have developed new rotors that can be classified into three groups by changing the rotors used in simple motors into various types. Group I has a semicircular shape rather than a perfect circle or square shape, group II has a structure consisting of several closed circles on one plane, and group III has a three-dimensional shape. We wanted to…

Design thinking has been propositioned to be interconnected to Dewey's notion of pragmatist inquiry and aesthetic experience. To address the need for empirical studies on design thinking in the classroom and add to our understanding of its characteristics, this study explored middle years' students' discourse as they worked through a design…

Energy is a disciplinary core idea and a cross-cutting concept in the K-12 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As numerous authors point out, the energy model in these standards emphasizes the connections between energy and systems. Using energy ideas to interpret or make sense of phenomena means…

The use of analogies is a well-known teaching strategy to bridge unfamiliar and familiar concepts. However, analogies may become ineffective if the familiar concept is not familiar anymore. For example, this may occur when we describe rotational sense as clockwise and counterclockwise, assuming students know how to read a clock with hour and…

The trajectory of a ball rolling across an inclined plane was recorded on video film to determine if it followed a parabolic path as others have suggested. The challenges in this case were (a) to determine the magnitude and direction of the friction force on the ball, (b) to determine the effect of the friction force on the trajectory and (c) to…

A 2.7 m long stringless pendulum was set up to measure the coefficient of rolling friction of various balls, at higher rolling speeds than usually observed with a short stringless pendulum. The arrangement is easy to set up and makes an impressive classroom demonstration as well as an interesting laboratory experiment.

A collision of one object with two or more objects is relatively complicated in general, but a simple example is provided by Newton's cradle since all the objects are identical and in line. In the present paper, an experiment is described where a heavy mallet collides head-on with two billiard balls. The two conservation equations indicate that…

An experiment is described where a pendulum bob was allowed to roll back and forth across an inclined plane. The period of oscillation is larger than that for oscillation in a vertical plane, in part because the effective value of "g" is reduced on an inclined plane. The experiment highlights the differences between all three common…

The chirality of chemicals is a well-known concept among undergraduates. The examples of chiral molecules in daily life are introduced to high school students as well. However, the chirality of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) remains unpopular in these groups. In this paper, a simple visualization of SWCNTs was first performed via paper…

A comprehensive laboratory work that allows students to gain hands-on skills in energy-efficient mechanochemistry is described. Standard university curricula are paying very little attention to mechanochemistry, although skills in this discipline are highly demanded among chemistry graduates. In this study, a comprehensive description of…

Utility value interventions (UVIs) are brief assignments designed to promote students' perceived utility value of the content they are learning. UVIs have been shown to improve students' academic performance in varying STEM courses; however, the use of UVIs in either chemistry courses or upper-level courses has not been well explored. This study…

"Copper to Silver to Gold: The Alchemist's Dream" is an experimental demonstration performed in many schools that involves Zn plating on a Cu coupon to induce brass plating. In this study, a novel method to achieve uniform plating is proposed using a 2.0mol/L ZnCl[subscript 2] aqueous solution, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and Al foil. This…

The principles of process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) are applied to the analysis of the emission spectrum of atomic hydrogen. Over the course of three learning cycles, students construct the hydrogen atom's energy level diagram and assign quantum numbers using their measurements of the Balmer series plus additional information on the…

The inexorable rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide impacts not only global warming but also the acidity of the ocean. Increasing ocean acidity causes a decline in carbonate (as it is protonated), which in turn will negatively impact the ability of calcifying marine organisms to build their calcium carbonate shells. A simple set of equilibrium…