A study investigated the effectiveness of two methods, workshop and individualized consultation, for improving instruction of full professors of physics with substantial teaching experience. It is concluded that neither method is very effective and that substantial and continuous expert consultation and investment of time and effort are required.…

The controversy surrounding the potential storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is discussed. Arguments about the stability of the site and the groundwater situation are summarized. The role of the U.S. Department of Energy and other political considerations are described. (CW)

This article profiles a high school physics teacher who received a grant to conduct research, with his own classes, designed to identify students' preconceptions about the physical world, explore ways teachers can use those preconceptions to teach physical laws, and prepare classroom materials that teachers can use to teach physics. (IAH)

A Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) undergraduate honors course in the physics of technology, taught in a special advanced electronic classroom, uses a computer data-management program to create a "stack" of index cards, from which students can answer their own or others' questions about technology. Students learn both physics and clear…

Discusses the development of fractal theory and suggests fractal aggregates as an attractive alternative for introducing fractal concepts. Describes methods for producing metallic fractals and a computer simulation for drawing fractals. (MVL)

Uses a compact disc (CD) as a grating in spectroscopy experiments. Suggests using the CD with fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent light bulbs, incandescent filament light bulbs, and sodium and mercury vapor lamps. Discusses environmental and economic aspects of fluorescent lighting. (MVL)

Describes activities concerning interference phenomena derived from illuminated rotating soap films. Suggests reflecting incident light off of the soap film onto a projection screen. Discusses several possible experiments, how to make soap solutions, and vibrating soap films. (MVL)

This study aims at giving a systematic description of the cognitive activities involved in teaching physics. The most important conclusion from the results is that teaching by experienced university teachers can be described in terms of instruction processes belonging to the two-dimensional model described in this study. (PR)

Describes easy to implement exercises that are designed to promote interest in physics by changing the laboratory environment. (ZWH)

Supports the use of microanalysis of conceptual change as a tool for reconceptualizing the nature of students' knowledge-in-development and dissolving concept-misconception and expert-novice dichotomies. Contains 48 references. (DDR)

Describes one student's learning pathway as a sequence of several metastable conceptions of the atom starting from a planetary model. Displays the final cognitive element as an association of three parallel conceptions. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

Uses digraphing as methodology to synthesize students' conceptions of natural phenomena in order to identify the structural characteristics of their conceptions. Contains 41 references. (DDR)

Discusses a program at Henry Ford Community College to revise the technical physics class. Describes the efforts of a physics teacher and an English teacher to develop learning communities by working as a team. (JOW)

Presents a latent Markov model in which the latent states are regressed on time-constant and time-varying covariates by means of a system-logit model. In an illustration, 541 secondary-school students' interest in physics at different times is explained by the time-constant covariate sex and the time-varying covariate physics grade. (SLD)

Argues that, contrary to the common view, Galileo and the theologians of the Inquisition share the same fundamental principles of biblical interpretation. Contends that Galileo and these theologians thought that the Bible contained truths about nature, but Galileo denied what the theologians accepted as scientifically true. Contains 93 references.…