In a familiar demonstration, a hoop and a solid disk of the same diameter and mass are started from rest at the top of an inclined plane and race to the bottom. The disk reaches the bottom with a larger speed than the hoop and arrives first. Why?

A standard physics experiment for students is to measure the terminal velocity of an object in air or in glycerine. A more difficult challenge is to measure the terminal velocity in water since the depth of the water needs to be large or the object needs to be dropped in the water at a speed close to its terminal velocity. Results obtained by…

In this paper we consider the well-known experiment with the 'heavy' newspaper that breaks a stick that it is laid on. Using several appropriate control experiments we show that the currently invoked explanation using atmospheric pressure cannot be correct. We perform a theoretical analysis and propose a new explanation based on the rotational…

One may be perplexed about the voltage across an inductor, since sometimes it is -LdI/dt, but more commonly it is LdI/dt. We explain why this is so, and point out that in fact, each of them is fine to be used if under its own sign convention (listed in table 2 in the last section of this paper), and the latter, mostly used in circuit equations, is…

A previous journal article established that a hanging Slinky's restoring force is due only to the coils between the support and the Slinky's center of mass (hereafter COM). Correspondingly, it is expected the Slinky's elastic potential energy (hereafter EPE) is associated with only those coils; however, there is no confirming experimental…

According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, a clock runs more slowly if it is close to a large gravitating object. This principle was highlighted in the movie "Interstellar," in which the main character spends several hours on a planet orbiting a massive black hole, and returns to find that his young daughter has become an…

In recent years, the importance of mobile devices has increased for education in general and more specifically for science and mathematics education. In the classroom, approaches for teaching with mobile devices include using student-owned devices ("bring your own device"; BYOD approach) or using school-owned devices from central pools…

In this paper, we provide examples of interactions with instructors that women in physics courses find condescending or intimidating based upon data from individual interviews with women in physics courses. We also provide some examples of interactions in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses that women found validating.…

There are conditions that lead professors to use different text formats in quantum physics courses. Studying these conditions is an important aspect to understand the dynamics of physics pedagogy, and philosophy of science can be used as an orientation to do so. A case study was conducted at a Brazilian initial physics teacher training program.…

Background: Students with disabilities are encouraged to achieve rigorous academic standards in science to enhance their understanding of the natural world, acquire life skills and prepare for their successful careers. Augmented reality (AR) enriches the physical world experiences benefiting all students, including those with Intellectual…

This study aims to investigate the effect of the flipped learning model in science education. Therefore, articles in the Web of Science database were analyzed using the systematic review method. During the research, 1627 data points were obtained using the keyword 'flipped learning.' Articles between 2013 and 2023 were examined during the research…

The gender gap in physics in Australian secondary schools remains a significant issue. This study aims to address this problem by examining how physics teachers perceive girls' participation in physics, and how these perceptions influence their approach to gender issues and their potential impact on girls' physics identity. The study uses a…

We conducted two studies to investigate the extent to which brief, spaced, mastery practice on skills relevant to introductory physics affects student performance. The first study investigated the effect of practice of "specific" physics skills, each one relevant to only one or a few items on the course exam. This study employed a…

This study examined the relationship of learner profiles and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs among 109 undergraduate physics students participating in an online algebra training program. The study utilized latent profile analysis to identify groups of learner profiles and explored the role of students' perceived needs satisfaction in…

Despite continued efforts to address this issue, many students still exhibit misunderstandings regarding Newton's laws. These misconceptions include beliefs, such as every movement requires a force, that force is directly proportional to velocity, and that action-reaction forces can differ in magnitude. To mitigate these misunderstandings,…