The Magiscope was an attraction at Manchester's department store in Madison, WI, in 1939 that allowed children to peek into Santa's workshop (as shown in Fig. 1). The "magiscope" was a telescope-like device that gave children the illusion they were looking at a distant Santa, when in fact they were looking at a fabricated workshop on an…

An Arduino-based system with a triple axis magnetometer chip may be used to plot both the strength and direction of the magnetic field of a magnet directly on a sheet of paper. Before taking measurements, it is necessary either to correct for or to eliminate soft and hard iron effects. The same sensor may be used to determine the presence of soft…

Kinematic models are often very useful. The back and forth throw of a ball between two ice skaters may help us appreciate the meson exchange theory of Yukawa. If the skaters throw the balls at each other, they move backward, which is equivalent to a repulsive force between them. On the other hand, if they snatch the ball from each other, the…

Some teenagers are exploring the outer perimeter of a castle. They notice a spy hole in its wall, across the moat a horizontal distance "x" and vertically up the wall a distance "y." They decide to throw pebbles at the hole. One girl wants to use physics to throw with the minimum speed necessary to hit the hole. What is the…

Transparency in learning and teaching (TILT) is a framework designed to enhance student engagement, learning, and overall success. The efficacy of TILT has been demonstrated through positive data, making it a promising method for higher education institutions to implement and adapt. In addition to increasing traditional students' mastery of…

In undergraduate research settings, students are likely to encounter anomalous data, that is, data that do not meet their expectations. Most of the research that directly or indirectly captures the role of anomalous data in research settings uses post-hoc reflective interviews or surveys. These data collection approaches focus on recall of past…

The research study concentrates on the incorporation of case technology to augment the enhancement of research competencies among future physicists. The study scrutinizes the influence of case technology on students' research capabilities and their aptitude to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations. The main objective was to identify…

Wave optics is a mandatory part of Croatian secondary school physics curriculum for students in the final year of secondary school (age 18-19). Many physics education research studies have shown that it is a difficult physics topic for both university and secondary school students. An inquiry-based teaching sequence on wave optics, designed for…

Higher education continually seeks new approaches to support students with various learning needs. At present, Finland attempts to provide such support through accessibility and reasonable accommodation efforts, but students with learning disabilities may still encounter many barriers in their studies. One approach suggested to meet the needs of a…

In this paper, we described the development of the High School Wave Optics Test (HSWOT). Firstly, 56 conceptual, multiple-choice items with a single correct answer and three distractors were created. Next, we conducted an initial review of the items which resulted in reducing the item pool to 44 highest quality items. Validity evidence and…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of teaching through a virtual laboratory prepared using simulations teaching materials and that are based on constructivist thought about geometrical optics upon the students' academic success and their attitudes towards physics. Quasi-experimental pretest and posttest control groups was used…

Mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a growing interest in the functional impact of masks on speech and communication. Prior work has shown that masks dampen sound, impede visual communication cues, and reduce intelligibility. However, more work is needed to understand how speakers change their speech while wearing a mask and to…

Several recent studies have employed item response theory (IRT) to rank incorrect responses to commonly used research-based multiple-choice assessments. These studies use Bock's nominal response model (NRM) for applying IRT to categorical (nondichotomous) data, but the response rankings only utilize half of the parameters estimated by the model.…

Sections PDF (924 KB) TOOLS SHARE Abstract Graduate physiology programs strive to provide students with in-depth expertise in a particular academic discipline, often facilitating this process in the form of a departmental seminar course. Within the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California Irvine (UCI), students are…

Both in physics education and in science education more generally concerns exist that formal K-12 education structures limit and, in some cases, diminish students' interest and agency in these fields. Many stakeholders have turned to informal learning experiences as a means to inspire young people to pursue continual learning in these fields in…