Cosmic expansion is an important concept in astronomy. For ease of understanding, astronomers generally draw an analogy between cosmic expansion and the expansion of a spherical surface in 3D space. This study theoretically and experimentally investigates the laws governing the motion of particles on the surface of a balloon during expansion.…

The study of vibration in uniform beams provides physics teachers with a platform by which a broad range of physics vibration-related topics can be explored without expensive and specialized equipment. This paper presents two laboratory exercises related to lateral beam vibrations. These exercises use beam theory coupled with free sound-analysis…

I am inspired to write this article after coming across some publications in "The Physics Teacher" that all hit on topics of personal interest and experience. Similarly to Christensen my goal in writing this is to encourage other physics educators to take advantage of modern technology in delivering content to students and to feel…

This mixed-method study represents a broad evaluation of the physics views of Mississippi physics students and physicists, along with an analysis of graduate school data, in a search for answers which might improve physics education in Mississippi. Descriptive statistics were calculated using data from eight graduate degree programs (from Fall…

Due to benefits for teaching and learning, an increasing number of studies have focused on classroom dialogue and how to make it productive. Coding, in which the transcribed conversation is allocated to a set of features, is commonly employed to deal with the textual data arising from this dialogue. This is generally done manually and cannot…

Teachers' diagnostic competence is fundamental for supporting students' individual learning processes and must be fostered in teacher education. Following a design-based research approach, a learning environment is developed focusing on preservice physics teachers' diagnostic competence in diagnosing students' conceptions. A core element of the…

Research has been conducted to develop a physics learning media in the form of an Android-based pocket book. We designed a Harmonic Oscillation Pocket Book and tested its feasibility and effectiveness in improving the cognitive learning outcomes of students. This study used the research and development method adapted from the ADDIE model. The…

In two earlier studies, we developed a new method to measure students' ability to transfer physics problem-solving skills to new contexts using a sequence of online learning modules, and implemented two interventions in the form of additional learning modules designed to improve transfer ability. The current paper introduces a new data analysis…

A concept for undergraduate mechanics courses at universities is introduced where traditional pencil-paper based exercises are partially replaced by experimental exercises, in which smartphones are used as measurement devices. A detailed guidance for practical realization and implementation of these tasks formats into the course is presented.…

Integrating faith with academic disciplines should result in enrichment of students' perspectives on both the discipline and their faith. This quasi-experimental pilot study examines how faith integration activities in introductory physics classes affected students' epistemologies, defined as their beliefs about the nature of knowing and learning.…

With a belief in the need for a reform in education that prepares students for life, work, and citizenship in a globalized economy, leaders were determined to connect students across the district, state, country, and globe in global collaborative STEM projects. These projects were aligned to the standards but also afforded students the opportunity…

Students' motivational beliefs about physics can influence their learning outcomes as well as retention in their majors and career choices. Moreover, due to societal stereotypes and biases about who belongs in physics and can succeed in physics, women often have lower motivational beliefs about physics than men. The expectancy-value theory…

This article presents a quasi-experiment which, with the use of Arduino and Scratch for Arduino (S4A), attempts to study their effect on self-efficacy and motivation towards Science Education, Computational Thinking (CT) and the views of 5th Grade students about concepts of electricity. It was conducted on the 5th Grade of a Primary School in…

Teaching about wave structure and function is a critical element of any physical science curriculum and supported by "Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)" PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer. To support students' learning of these ideas, teachers often rely on developing graphic models of a…

For efficient and effective pedagogical interventions to address Uganda's alarmingly poor performance in Physics, it is vital to understand students' motivation patterns for Physics learning. Latent profile analysis (LPA)--a person-centred approach--can be used to investigate these motivation patterns. Using a three-step approach to LPA, we sought…