This instructional design sought to create an easily graspable application of physics principles. It took an engineering slant on the content, asking students to investigate physics by attempting to increase the productivity of a "Splam-canning" plant. Design strategies are outlined for six science principles and eight product utilization…

Models the motion of a gymnast around the high bar first as swinging around a rigid rod, then more accurately when the rod is considered to be elastic. Also considers how the gymnast should best move his hips. (Author/ASK)

Describes a "Basics of Teaching Physics" course as an approach to training teaching assistants (TAs) in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET) departments. The regular graduate course is based on constructivist learning: TAs construct their own understanding through guided questions, problem solving, reading and analyzing papers,…

Summarizes the main features of Michigan State University's Internet-based online degree programs in beam physics. Discuses enrollment and degree requirements; explains the WebCOSY system, an interactive Web-based homework and course management program; and examines participants, dropout rate, and grades. (Author/LRW)

Demonstrates a model system that recreates seasonal processes on Mars. Lists necessary materials and explains the construction of the demonstration. Provides discussion questions. (Contains 11 references.) (YDS)

Describes a teaching unit on electromagnetic induction using historic texts. Uses some of Faraday's diary entries from 1831 to introduce the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction and teach about the properties of electricity, of taking conclusions from experiment, and scientific methodology. (ASK)

Explains tendencies and difficulties experienced by students aged 14 through 17 years during an activity involving measurement in physics. Surveys these tendencies and difficulties through clinical interviews involving data collection, data processing, and data interpretation. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

Reports on a study designed to measure changes in students' science proficiency produced by a multimedia learning environment. Describes the inquiry-based design of Astronomy Village, which supports middle school students in learning fundamental concepts in life, earth, and physical sciences. Results indicate sizable treatment effects for two…

Discusses student and teacher perceptions of a new development in the use of the predict-observe-explain (POE) strategy. This development involves the incorporation of POE tasks into a multimedia computer program that uses real-life, digital video clips of difficult, expensive, time consuming, or dangerous scenarios as stimuli for these tasks.…

A study examined the views of five Norwegian teachers who are deaf on science learning by deaf students. The teachers see the systematic work in class discussions, especially on the concepts of physics, as a major contributor to their success and try to use similar methods in their own teaching. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Attribution retraining was conducted with 82 German 8th grade girls as part of feedback provided by trained teachers in the students' first physics course. In comparison with controls, attribution retraining significantly improved students' performance in physics. Training also had favorable effects on the motivation sets and self-related…

Explains how electronic mailing lists operate, and provides information about the objectives and membership of the four largest physics education-related electronic mail lists. (WRM)

Describes an activity in which students determine where wind chime tubes should be supported and struck to give the best tone, then find the frequency of the tubes. This activity can be used to introduce ideas on significant figures, experimental error, types of variation, peer review of results, seeking empirical relationships with data, and…

Examines the design and construction of a mini-sextant and its use in demonstrating Fresnel reflection, geometric optics, and several common optical techniques. A sidebar explains the basic use of the mini-sextant as a navigational tool. (WRM)

Describes a way of performing the classic oil drop experiment in which a CCD video camera replaces the eyepiece of the microscope, reducing measurement error to approximately 7%. (WRM)