Anxiety is known to dysregulate the salience, default mode, and central executive networks of the human brain, yet this phenomenon has not been fully explored across the STEM learning experience, where anxiety can impact negatively academic performance. Here, we evaluated anxiety and large-scale brain connectivity in 101 undergraduate physics…

Although for most of the time the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN collides protons, for around one month every year lead ions are collided, to expand the diversity of the LHC research programme. Furthermore, in an effort not originally foreseen, proton-lead collisions are also taking place, with results of high interest to the physics…

The concept of embodied learning--that we can learn with our bodies and with our minds--is a well-established concept in physics and math education research, and includes symbolic understanding (e.g., gestures that track how students think or facilitate learning to model complex systems of energy flow) as well as the literal experience of…

The aim of article is to prove the advisability of using the learning models in physics teaching. According to created general structure of physics teaching, we proposed to use the learning models for explanation of physical phenomena, concepts, laws and theories. The examples of material and thought models have been demonstrated. The requirements…

One way to ease the solution of physics problems is to visualize the situation. However, by visualization we do not mean the pictorial representation of the problem. Instead, we mean a sketch for the solution of the problem. In this paper a new approach to solving physics problems, based on decomposing the problem into with and without gravity, is…

Students are amazed when I show them a zoo photo of an animal behind a fence and then a zoomed-in photo where the fence has disappeared. They ask 'Where did the fence go?' This paper will explore this magical phenomenon which draws from concepts in photography (angle of view, depth of field) and physics (convex lenses, focal length, real images).…

The classical physics treatment of "Electromagnetic Induction" is based on Faraday's Law and Lorentz Force. This paper presents an alternative approach, based on Wilhelm Weber´s Fundamental Force Law of Electrodynamics. It covers mutual induction, self-induction, parallel and anti-parallel currents, and currents in the same and opposite…

The classic demonstration illustrating Lenz's law by dropping a magnet through a copper pipe is presented using household aluminum foil right out of the box. Then comes the surprise. The teacher presents an aluminum foil cylinder with a missing lengthwise slice (cut before class). Will the demonstration still work? Students are amazed at the…

Consider a chain of length L that hangs in a U shape with end A fixed to a rigid support and free end E released from rest starting from the same initial height (call it y = 0) as A. Figure 1 sketches the chain after end E has fallen a distance y. Points O and A are assumed to be close enough to each other and the chain flexible enough that the…

Incandescent lamps are not only good sources of electromagnetic energy radiations but their operating temperatures are comparable to the temperatures of stars also. These features can be exploited to teach apparent magnitude scale both theoretically and experimentally. The numerical illustrations presented corresponding to 10, 100, 1000 and 10 000…

In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote a brief article where he suggested the possibility that a massive object acted as a lens, amplifying the brightness of a star. As time went by, this phenomenon--known as gravitational lensing--has become a powerful research tool in astrophysics. The simplest and symmetrical expression of a gravitational lens is known…

Physics textbook authors commonly introduce the concept of weightlessness (apparent or real) through a "thought experiment" in which a person weighs herself or himself in an elevator. When the elevator falls freely, the spring balance should show zero weight. There is an unresolved controversy about how this "zero reading"…

Games have often been used in the classroom to teach physics ideas and concepts, but there has been less published on games that can be used to teach scientific thinking. D. Maloney and M. Masters describe an activity in which students attempt to infer rules to a game from a history of moves, but the students do not actually play the game. Giving…

Discovery of planets outside our solar system, known as extra-solar planets or exoplanets for short, has been at the forefront of astronomical research for over 25 years. Reports of new discoveries have almost become routine; however, the excitement surrounding them has not. Amazingly, as groundbreaking as exoplanet science is, the basic physics…

With the introduction of the Wireless Smart Cart by PASCO scientific in April 2016, we expect a paradigm shift in undergraduate physics laboratory instruction. We have evaluated the feasibility of using the smart cart by carrying out experiments that are usually performed using traditional PASCO equipment. The simplicity, convenience, and…