Considers the role of word problems in physics education and proposes that word problems serve as exemplars of prototype categories that play a key role in enculturating students into the community of the physics literate. Contains 25 references. (ASK)

Explains how to determine the polarity of static electric charges by using an electrician's tool called the test pencil. (WRM)

Describes the assembly of a simple loudspeaker that can be used to generate high fidelity sound when plugged into a boom-box speaker output. (WRM)

Presents an organization of seemingly disparate convention and procedure statements and rules of basic electricity into conjugate relationships which can be used to reduce students' memorization loads and improve their understanding. (WRM)

Describes two approaches to science, one that abandons hypothesis as a result of experiment, and one that remains faithful to an explanation in spite of all evidence to the contrary. Relates an experience in which the experimental evidence contradicted a physics principle. (CCM)

Describes a bubble activity related to the concepts of force and motion. Uses soap solutions for the task and evaluates students according to their performance in the problem solving process and garnering investigation results, which are conceptually based. Promotes and assesses science process skills. (Contains 20 references.) (YDS)

Presents a method for measuring the speed of light using a laser pointer with adjustable focus as the signal carrier, a signal generator to modulate the light beam, and a student oscilloscope to detect the phase shift. (Author/CCM)

Presents the results of a comparative study of two groups of learners. Explores whether their feelings about a potentially emotive topic--radioactivity--influence their approach to learning. (Author/CCM)

Describes a quantitative approach to the demonstration that the energy of a photon is proportional to its frequency. (CCM)

Finds that quick estimates or mental calculations are usually easier if distances are stated in focal lengths and the equation is written as a function of magnification. (CCM)

Explores the use of computer simulation/modeling programs for teaching a variety of science concepts. (Author/CCM)

Describes the history of the Physics Olympics, a set of a dozen physics-related competitions for high school students roughly modeled after a track meet. (WRM)

Summarizes the recommendations of the Lightning Safety Group (LSG), which was first convened during the 1998 American Meteorological Society Conference. Findings outline appropriate actions under various circumstances when lightning threatens. (WRM)

Illustrates that, contrary to some assertions made in the popular press, scientific literature, and introductory textbooks, glass does not flow in historic time. Contends that glass is a rigid solid with a lower degree of molecular order than a crystal but with greater molecular order than a liquid. (Contains 27 references.) (WRM)

During the 1995-96 school year, the author (a principal) and three teachers developed an action research project at a Virginia high school. The idea was to increase curricular articulation among departments and connections among disciplines (art, physics, and geometry) at the school. Teachers overcame two major barriers: lack of common planning…