In this work, we have developed an alternative device composed by an Arduino board and an INA219 sensor to experimentally obtain the mathematical formulas describing the charge and discharge of the capacitor for educational proposes. We have obtained excellent agreement between theoretical prediction and experimental measurements. The INA219 DC…

Learning in high schools has used a lot of smartphone assistance to make it easier for students to understand the material explained by the teacher. However, with the many uses of smartphones in learning, of course, it must provide positive benefits to the ability of students, especially the science literacy ability. In this study, the objectives…

We discuss the development and validation of a conceptual multiple-choice survey instrument called the survey of thermodynamic processes and first and second laws (STPFaSL) suitable for introductory physics courses. The survey instrument uses common student difficulties with these concepts as resources in that the incorrect answers to the…

Teaching modern physics in high school is of increasingly importance as it can offer students a more realistic and updated vision of the world, and can provide an opportunity to understand the most recent scientific discoveries. In this context, general relativity (GR) occupies a prominent place, since it is related to astonishing scientific…

College Introductory STEM courses impact students' persistence. Guided by Eccles' Expectancy-Value (EV) theory, we examined undergraduates' open-ended explanations for major persistence plans. Students (N=2,737; 45.6% women; 16.4% White, 22.6% Latino/a, 46.5% Asian, 14.5% other; 43% 1st-generation college-going students) reported certainty in…

My research uses interaction analysis to investigate two STEM education spaces and discuss how instructors can and should notice and address unproductive group dynamics, particularly in the service of creating more humane learning environments. The primary goal of this work is to investigate how inequities emerge and continue as interactions in…

Laboratory experimentation providing students with hands-on experiences can greatly enhance the teaching and learning of physics. However, traditional hands-on laboratories are very expensive, limiting the possibilities for practical activities. In addition, limited time for laboratory practices prevents teachers and students from conducting…

Being lectured by a woman physicist can benefit students' performance, motivation, and engagement with physics. However, due to the severe underrepresentation of women physics faculty, these instances may be scarce. Through semistructured interviews with seven women physics lecturers, we used expectancy-value theory to understand the situative…

This study examines the impact of constructivist physics lessons and laboratory activities on middle and high school students' academic success. Utilizing the constructivist learning model, which emphasizes active student engagement, the research was conducted at Hyperion Theoretical High School in Chi?inau, Moldova, involving 195 students across…

We describe the kinematics, dynamics, and also some energy issues related to Marta mouse's motion when she walks on top of a horizontal bicycle wheel, which is free to rotate like a merry-go-round, as presented recently by Paul Hewitt in the "Figuring Physics" section of this journal. The situation is represented in Fig. 1, which was…

This May marks the 80th anniversary of the "Hindenburg" disaster. On May 6, 1937, the German passenger zeppelin "Hindenburg," hovering 300 feet in the air and held aloft by seven million cubic feet of hydrogen gas, burst into flames while preparing to dock at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, NJ (Fig. 1). Amazingly, the…

A fairly recent paper resolves a large discrepancy in the internal energy utilized to fire a cannon as calculated by two inertial observers. Earth and its small reaction velocity must be considered in the system so that the change in kinetic energy is calculated correctly. This paper uses a car in a similar scenario, but considers the work done by…

There are five unique points in a star/planet system where a satellite can be placed whose orbital period is equal to that of the planet. Simple methods for calculating the positions of these points, or at least justifying their existence, are developed.

The Bernoulli's principle states that the quantity p+ pgz + pv[superscript 2]/2 must be conserved in a streamtube if some conditions are matched, namely: steady and irrotational flow of an inviscid and incompressible fluid. In most physics textbooks this result is demonstrated invoking the energy conservation of a fluid material volume at two…

Current research in physics shows that pre-service teachers have poor content knowledge in vector-kinematics. This study describes the types of categories of conceptions pre-service teachers display in vector-kinematics. Descriptive and interpretive qualitative research was conducted in which the data were concept maps from 28 third-year…