Describes activities that will help students understand how car seat belts work, the limited reaction time available to passengers in an automobile accident, and the force of impact in a car collision. These activities will provide students with hands-on experiences that demonstrate the importance of always wearing seat belts while in an…

Describes the involvement of students in the construction of an inexpensive wooden balance to aid in their understanding of mass. (ZWH)

A comparison of the physics concepts explanations of ninth graders and of physics graduates and graduate students found that physics novices were strongly inclined to conceptualize physics concepts as material substances, whereas experts' protocols revealed distinctly nonmaterialistic representations. (MDM)

Describes the relationships a high school built with neighborhood industry, a national laboratory, a national museum, and a large university while trying to build a scale model of the original atomic pile. Provides suggestions for teachers. (MVL)

Discusses a well-known optical refraction problem where the depth of an object in a liquid is determined. Proposes that many texts incorrectly solve the problem. Provides theory, equations, and diagrams. (MVL)

Uses common equipment (tea kettle and vacuum bottles) to precisely measure the specific heat, latent heat of fusion, and latent heat of vaporization of water. Provides descriptions for all three experiments. (MVL)

Students construct a Sierpinski gasket from resistors and measure its resistance as a function of size. Provides a brief review of what it means geometrically for the Sierpinski gasket to be fractal, followed by an explanation of how to analyze the electrical resistance on a gasket to find its fractal behavior. (MVL)

Describes how liquid nitrogen is attracted to the poles of neodymium magnets. Nitrogen is not paramagnetic, so the attraction suggests that the liquid nitrogen contains a small amount of oxygen, which causes the paramagnetism. (MVL)

Presents John Collier's "Problem-Solving Loop" as a structure for finding the most acceptable solution to any problem. Describes a project that uses the problem-solving loop to analyze some problems outside the classroom related to kinematics and dynamics. (JRH)

Combined free response questionnaire and interview procedure are used to probe students' ideas regarding how they believe they see both luminous and nonluminous objects and how they think they hear source of sound. From large sample of students studied (n=1901), prevalence of ideas in different age groups is compared, and progression can be seen.…

Discusses the meaning of velocity in the Lorentz force law and to what the velocity of the charge is relative. Provides a brief summary of the history of the magnetic force. (23 references) (MDH)

Describes two high school courses, "Chemistry of Technology (Chem Tech)" and "Physics of Technology (Physics Tech)," that emphasize multidisciplinary learning through applicative, hands-on activities. Provides course descriptions, lists the advantages of using a unified science-technology model, and discusses limitations of…

Describes "The Mechanical Universe," a video series aimed at high school physics teachers. Author asserts that the educational infrastructure must be strengthened to the point where science can be taught gradually, throughout the school years and beyond. Teachers need to become better by increasing mastery of the subject and by better…

Discusses the hydrodynamic reasons why a riverbed meanders through a plain. Describes how water movement at a bend in a river causes erosion and changes in the riverbed. Provides a mathematical model to explain the periodic shape of meanders of a river in a plain. (MDH)