Describes an activity in which the story of "Frosty the Snowman" is reviewed and students are challenged to come up with ways to save Frosty. In cooperative groups, students brainstorm, share ideas, and write a prelaboratory report. After the approval of plans by the teacher students construct the snowmen and begin the three-day experiment. (DDR)

Presents results of preliminary trials that suggest that the program devised helped UK Year 12 (A-level) learners develop useful concepts of current and voltage, acquire a more integrated understanding of circuit behavior, and overcome their tendencies towards localized and sequential reasoning. Provides learners with a valuable aid for problem…

Presents innovative ideas that have been incorporated into the applied physics program at the Humacao Campus of the University of Puerto Rico since 1981. Describes a program that was designed as a professional (terminal) one with mechanisms to guide students who wish to pursue graduate studies. (Author/YDS)

Forty-three students (ages 16-17) gifted in physics/mathematics were compared with 34 typical students to investigate the cognitive experience of gifted individuals. Results found the gifted students had different representations of reality and the future, more complex and rich conceptual representations, and more developed intellectual control.…

Provides a brief account of early attempts to concentrate the sun's radiation for heating purposes and reports on 20th-century attempts to do the same, including the solar furnace in the French Pyrenees. Includes a discussion of the solar constant and its applications. (DDR)

Investigates the effect of explicit problem-solving instruction on high school students' (N=145) conceptual understanding of physics. Findings indicate that the explicit strategy improved the quality and completeness of students' physics representations more than the textbook strategy. No difference was found between the strategies on match of…

Describes a measurement system for recording the frequency response of acoustic systems. The computer interface detects the characteristic modes, their relative strengths, and resonant shapes over a broad range of frequencies. Includes experimental data for tubes and analyzes the data to determine the optimal functional form for the resonant…

Studies whether Piagetian reasoning, general intelligence and achievement motive tap different mental structures, and the relative importance of these measures for concept attainment in physics. Concepts chosen for the study were force, couple, total internal reflection and atom. Results indicate that proportional reasoning, combinatorial…

Explains how the moon provides information about the evolution of the solar system and offers scope for physics-based investigations. Uses statistical analysis of real scientific data with which students can predict the diameter and depth of impact craters then compare them with data gathered in institutions or laboratories. (Author/YDS)

Uses microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) to teach Newton's second law and the impulse-momentum relationship with a high degree of precision and accuracy while applying forces that change in an arbitrary way. (YDS)

Using a framework of systemic functional grammar, compares two modes of presenting the same scientific topic: in a physics textbook and in interactive teacher talk. Three aspects of scientific meaning making are analyzed: representations of physical and mental reality, lexical packaging, and the rhetorical structure of reasoning. (Author/VWL)

Describes the different social and cultural structures in East Asian countries compared to western countries. Discusses the ineffectiveness of imported educational theories in local practice. Compares the content of physics at the secondary school level in Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan. (Author/YDS)

Introduces students to problem solving strategies in the form of step-by-step guides to follow in problem solving practice. Assumes that students could pinpoint the difficulty specifically using this guide, which would result in positive effects on students' recognition and expression of their own questions. Uses traditional and worksheet-based…

Evaluated an intervention aimed at giving girls a better chance in science that focused on introductory physics at the secondary level and featured material and methods developed for use with girls. Results for German seventh graders (150 girls and 139 boys in the experimental group) show better learning achievements for both girls and boys in the…

Investigates how situational knowledge differs across individuals of different competence levels. Analyzes participants' descriptions of physics problem situations. Discusses the relationship between competence and the structure of problem situations, differences between experts and novices, and implications for teaching. (Author/KHR)