We designed a physics laboratory exercise around pulse oximetry, a noninvasive medical technique used to assess a patient's blood oxygen saturation. An alternative to a traditional optics and light lab, this exercise teaches the principles of light absorption, spectroscopy, and the properties of light, while simultaneously studying a common…

This paper describes a set of demonstration school experiments where infrared radiation is detected using thermal sensitive foils. The possibility of using standard glass lenses for infrared imaging is discussed in detail. It is shown that with optic components made from glass, infrared radiation up to 2.5 µm of wavelength can be detected. The…

The teaching of the principle of conservation of linear momentum is considered (ages 15 + ). From the principle, the momenta of two masses in an isolated system are considered. Sketch graphs of the momenta make Newton's laws appear obvious. Examples using different collision conditions are considered. Conservation of momentum is considered…

The large class sizes of first-year chemistry labs makes it challenging to provide students with hands-on access to instrumentation because the number of students typically far exceeds the number of research-grade instruments available to collect data. Multifunctional chemical analysis (MCA) systems provide a viable alternative for large-scale…

Two experiments investigated response tendencies of preschoolers toward yes-no questions about actions. Two hundred 2- to 5-year-old children were asked questions concerning actions commonly associated with particular objects (e.g., drinking from a cup) and actions not commonly associated with particular objects (e.g., kicking a toothbrush). The…

Carbohydrate analysis is an excellent way to expose second-year biochemistry majors to the subtlety and nuance of sugar chemistry. In one, 3-h practical period, students must identify an unknown mono- or disaccharide from a collection of three hexoses (glucose, galactose, and mannose), two pentoses (ribose and arabinose), and three disaccharides…

In the C-not-B task, 2.5-year-old children tend to look for an object in a location to which the hiding agent moved his hand (C) after moving an object from A to B. In three experiments, the authors investigated the nature of the constraints underlying toddlers' performance in this task. In Experiment 1, 2.5-year-olds were tested in a new version…

Video analysis of 2-D collisions is an excellent way to investigate conservation of linear momentum. The often-desired experimental design goal is to minimize the momentum loss in order to demonstrate the conservation law. An air table with colliding pucks is an ideal medium for this experiment, but such equipment is beyond the budget of many…

This paper deals with the comparison of sound speed measurements in air using two types of sensor that are widely employed in physics and engineering education, namely a pressure sensor and a sound sensor. A computer-based laboratory with pressure and sound sensors was used to carry out measurements of air through a 60 ml syringe. The fast Fourier…

A handheld emitter-receiver device suitable for the direct estimation of the velocity of radio waves in air is presented. The velocity of radio waves is measured using the direct time-of-flight method, without the need for any tedious and precise settings. The results for two measurement series are reported. Both sets of results give an estimate…

The findings of Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961) on the relative ease of learning 6 elemental types of 2-way classifications have been deeply influential 2 times over: 1st, as a rebuke to pure stimulus generalization accounts, and again as the leading benchmark for evaluating formal models of human category learning. The litmus test for models…

A primary function of prosody in many languages is to convey information structure--the "packaging" of a sentence's content into categories such as "focus", "given" and "topic". In English and other West Germanic languages it is widely assumed that focus is signaled prosodically by the location of a…

This study sought to answer the question of whether the existence of cycles in education are random events, or if cycles in education are likely to be expected on a regular basis due to intransitive decision-making patterns of stakeholders. This was a quantitative study, modeled after two previously conducted studies (Davis, 1958/59; May, 1954),…

A large body of literature exists on evolutionary computing, genetic algorithms, decision trees, codified knowledge, and knowledge management systems; however, the intersection of these computing topics has not been widely researched. Moving through the set of all possible solutions--or traversing the search space--at random exhibits no control…

Embryonic development offers a unique perspective on the function of many biological processes because of embryos' heightened sensitivity to environmental factors. This hands-on lesson investigates the effects of elevated vitamin A on the morphogenesis of chicken embryos. The active form of vitamin A (retinoic acid) is applied to shell-less (ex…