There is growing evidence of persistent gender achievement gaps in university physics instruction, not only for learning physics content, but also for developing productive attitudes and beliefs about learning physics. These gaps occur in both traditional and interactive-engagement (IE) styles of physics instruction. We investigated one gender gap…

The Longitudinal Study of Astronomy Graduate Students (LSAGS) arose from the 2003 Women in Astronomy Conference, where it was noted that a majority of young members of the American Astronomical Society were women. The astronomy community wishes to make every effort to retain young women in astronomy, so they commissioned a longitudinal study to be…

Three hundred and forty-one children (M[subscript age] = 9,0 years) engaged in a series of science tasks in collaborative, same-sex pairs or did not interact. All children who collaborated on the science tasks advanced in basic-level understanding of the relevant task (motion down an incline). However, only boys advanced in their conceptual…

This study investigates university students' graph interpretation strategies and difficulties in mathematics, physics (kinematics), and contexts other than physics. Eight sets of parallel (isomorphic) mathematics, physics, and other context questions about graphs, which were developed by us, were administered to 385 first-year students at the…

We present a newly validated and refined framework, TA-PIVOT (TA Practices In and Views Of Teaching), for examining how physics TAs talk about and how they engage in physics teaching. This work builds upon and extends prior efforts to characterize instructors' beliefs and practices by examining both domains in parallel. We present the…

Although weight and mass are considered fundamental concepts in physics, they are still not well understood by students. A computer simulation was designed to improve students' learning of these concepts and compared it with other teaching strategies. The research was carried out with 142 students (7th grade; 12-13 years old), from three schools.…

This note is a response to a recent paper by McClelland (2011 "Phys. Educ." 46 469-471). The situation of a person who is walking horizontally along the ground is examined, and the statement "The person is accelerated by a net force from the Earth" is considered invalid. A key point in McClelland's analysis is his claim that: "The force…

Following a discussion of forces, torques, and the conditions for static equilibrium, I tell my introductory mechanics class that I will show them how to measure the coefficient of static friction, us, between the surfaces of a block and the front bench using "nothing but a straightedge". After a few seconds of hushed anticipation, I nudge the…

In this paper, we revisit, theoretically and experimentally, the fall of a folded U-chain and of a pile-chain. The model calculation implies the division of the whole system into two subsystems of variable mass, allowing us to explore the role of tensional contact forces at the boundary of the subsystems. This justifies, for instance, that the…

The experiments described in this paper have two goals. The first goal is to show how students can perform simple but fundamental measurements of objects moving through simple liquids (such as water, oil, or honey). In doing so, students can verify Stokes' law, which governs the motion of spheres through simple liquids, and see how it fails at…

This note describes how to theoretically calculate and experimentally measure the moment of inertia of a Ping-Pong[R] ball. The theoretical calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements that can be reproduced in an introductory physics laboratory.

We discuss the popular question concerning the difference in weight between 1 kg of iron and 1 kg of feathers, by taking into account the non-trivial aspect of the semantic interpretation of "weight" and the weighting procedure. The inclusion of air buoyancy makes the correct answer an interesting one. We describe and comment on the…

The construction and operation of a prototype high-"Tc" superconducting train model is presented. The train is levitated by a melt-processed GdBa[subscript 2]Cu[subscript 3]O[subscript x] (Gd-123) superconducting material over a magnetic rail (track). The oval shaped track is constructed in S-N-S or PM3N configuration arranged on an iron…

Authors of physics textbooks frequently use the deflection of a thin, vertically falling water jet by a charged balloon, comb, or rod as a visually appealing and conceptually relevant example of electrostatic attraction. Nevertheless, no attempts are made to explore whether these charged bodies could cause visible deformation of a horizontal water…

A Cartesian diver can be used to measure the surface tension of a liquid to a certain extent. The surface tension measurement is related to the two critical pressures at which the diver is about to sink and about to emerge. After sinking because of increasing pressure, the diver is repulsed to the centre of the vessel. After the pressure is…