Atmospheric optical effects can teach much about physics and especially optics. Coronae--coloured rings around the sun or moon--are large-scale consequences of diffraction, which is often thought of as only a small effect confined to the laboratory. We describe coronae, how they are formed and experiments that can be conducted on ones in the sky.…

When preschoolers overcome persistent error, subsequent patterns of correct choices may identify how the error had been overcome. Children who no longer misrepresented a ball rolling down a bent tube as though it could only fall vertically, were asked sometimes to approach and sometimes to avoid where the ball landed. All children showed requisite…

The Australian Government has stressed the important role universities play in producing knowledge workers to service the needs of the technology-driven "new economy". The massification of Australian higher education from 1989 rapidly increased the stock of university-educated people in all disciplines. Although university science…

At the University of Maryland we videotaped several semesters of tutorials as part of a large research project. A particular research task required us to locate examples of students calling the teaching assistants (TAs) over for assistance with a physics question. To our surprise, examples of this kind of interaction were difficult to find. We…

The origins of the pion exchange model of nuclear forces are described and the exchange process is reinterpreted in the light of current views on the quark-gluon structure of nucleons. It is suggested that the reinterpretation might provide a picture of cohesive nuclear forces that is more intellectually satisfying than that produced by the…

At the pre-college and first-year college level of physics instruction, Kepler's laws are generally taught as empirical laws of nature. Introductory physics textbooks only derive Kepler's Second law of areas. It is possible to derive all of Kepler's laws mathematically from the conservation laws, employing only high-school algebra and geometry.…

An experiment is proposed for learning the principles of radio. A simple radio receiver illustrates amplitude modulation and demodulation, the selectivity of a receiver and the features of a directional antenna. Both normal and computerized versions of the experiment are described. The computerized experiment employs the "ScienceWorkshop"…

The teaching of energy throws up many different approaches and causes many arguments. This paper describes yet another approach to teaching the subject matter using a system of diagrams, but hopefully one that will be an acceptable compromise for many teachers. Lord Rutherford is often quoted as saying, "All science is either physics or stamp…

We have used the GPS receiver and a PC interface to track different types of motion. Various hands-on experiments that enlighten the physics of motion at the secondary school level are suggested (visualization of 2D and 3D motion, measuring car drag coefficient and fuel consumption). (Contains 8 figures.)

This paper aims to show the close relation between physics and mathematics taking into account especially the theory of differential equations. By analysing the problems posed by scientists in the seventeenth century, we note that physics is very important for the emergence of this theory. Taking into account this analysis, we show the…

A person's first significant "hands-on" encounter with mechanical things during childhood often comes through use of a bicycle. Almost all of us have personal experience with this element of transportation technology. Educators can use the bicycle to address a variety of standards that involve tool use, mechanics, science, math, and the interplay…

This paper takes a cognitive perspective in an attempt to analyze mental mechanisms involved in contextual learning. In the following, it is suggested that contextualized environments evoke mental mechanisms that support reasoning about "what if", imaginary situations--utilizing a powerful mental mechanism known from the history of physics as…

Quantum fields are introduced in order to give students an accurate qualitative understanding of the origin of Feynman diagrams as representations of particle interactions. Elementary diagrams are combined to produce diagrams representing the main features of the Standard Model.

People usually talk about "hot and cold" colours without really thinking of the impact these definitions may have on scientific understanding. These colours are associated with the human sensations of hot and cold, and this idea is consistent with commonsense and daily experience. Interacting with students, we detect conceptual conflicts when they…

In April 2005 the World Year of Physics (Einstein Year in the UK and Ireland) was celebrated with an Einstein week in Stockholm House of Science. Seven experiments illustrated Einstein's remarkable work in 1905 on Brownian motion, the photoelectric effect and special relativity. Thirteen school classes with 260 pupils, 30 teachers and 25 members…