Diversity strengthens science, but in most physics classrooms female students are disadvantaged both directly and indirectly: extensive research shows that they are undermined, viewed as less capable, and have less successful experiences both in terms of learning and identity formation. The following article was written in partnership between a…

This study investigates the outcome of designed source-text materials in context-based physics learning using validated test questions in mechanics. Two groups of students received context-based instruction (experimental group) and one group received content-based instruction (control group). These three groups of students are only different with…

This study analyzes the analogies used in the teaching of introductory quantum theory concepts. Over twelve weeks, the researcher observed each class for a semester and conducted interviews with the students and the instructor. In the interviews, students answered questions about quantum theory concepts, which the instructor had taught them using…

The Virtual Laboratory was created as a complementary educational activity, with the aim of working abstract concepts from an experimental point of view. In this work, the motion of a ring rolling and slipping in front of a grid printed panel was recorded. The frames separated from this video received a time code, and the resulting set of images…

In a brief article published in 1931, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar made public an important astronomical discovery. In his article, the then young Indian astrophysicist introduced what is now known as the "Chandrasekhar limit." This limit establishes the maximum mass of a stellar remnant beyond which the repulsion force between electrons…

A variety of experiments with smartphones and tablet PCs allow a precise analysis of acoustic phenomena. For example, we recently described an experiment in which a noise signal simultaneously triggered harmonic acoustic resonances in the air column of a tube open at both ends and a tube closed at one end. The measured resonant frequencies were…

Game-based assessment (GBA) is a specific use of educational games that employs game activities to elicit evidence for educationally valuable skills and knowledge. While this approach can provide individualized and diagnostic information about students, the design and development of assessment mechanics for a GBA is a nontrivial task. In this…

In 1998 I had been teaching science for 13 years. I was a good teacher: I had the plaques and certificates to prove it. But often I felt like an impostor (which I have since learned is not unusual--70% of all people feel like a fake at one time or another). While my students could solve problems and ace tests, every June when I sat down to look at…

Examples of equilibrium are evident everywhere and the equilibrium rule provides a reasoned way to view all things, whether in static (balancing rocks, steel beams in building construction) or dynamic (airplanes, bowling balls) equilibrium. Interestingly, the equilibrium rule applies not just to objects at rest but whenever any object or system of…

In a recent paper in "The Physics Teacher (TPT)", DiLisi and Rarick used the National Football League "Deflategate" controversy to introduce to physics students the physics of a bouncing ball. In this paper, we measure and analyze the environmental effects of time, ambient temperature, and moisture on the internal pressure of…

Last month we highlighted our Quadrennial Survey of High School Physics Teachers. Using data from the survey, we have looked at the availability of high school physics. We report that about 95% of high school seniors attend a high school where physics is offered regularly--either every year or every other year. A U.S. Department of Education…

Rationale of the problem stated in the article is caused by search for new alternative models for individual educational paths of students in the continuous multi-level education system on the basis of the navigators of the educational process, being a visual matrix of individual educational space. The purpose of the article is to develop the…

Research-based assessments represent a valuable tool for both instructors and researchers interested in improving undergraduate physics education. However, the historical model for disseminating and propagating conceptual and attitudinal assessments developed by the physics education research (PER) community has not resulted in widespread adoption…

South Korean high school students are being taught Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. In this article, I examine the portrayal of this theory in South Korean high school physics textbooks and discuss an alternative method used to solve the analyzed problems. This examination of how these South Korean textbooks present this theory has…

For acquainting the students of applied physics and students of teaching physics with the concept of energy efficiency, electrical and spectral characteristics of two widely used lamps--integrated fluorescence lamp and common light bulb have been investigated. Characterization of the lamps has been done by measuring the spectral irradiance and…