This study investigates how students can use "interactive example models" in inquiry activities to develop their conceptual knowledge about an engineering phenomenon like electromagnetic fields and waves. An interactive model, for example a computational model, could be used to develop and teach principles of dynamic complex systems, and…

Atomic weapons testing during the Cold War and accidents at nuclear power plants have resulted in the release of radioactive fallout over great distances. Little is known about levels of fallout deposited in Indiana. The reported study sampled soil in all 92 Indiana counties to determine the present level of cesium-137 from the 2 to 12 centimeter…

The purpose of this work was to share our findings in using the Kinect technology to facilitate the understanding of basic kinematics with middle school science classrooms. This study marks the first three iterations of this design-based research that examines the pedagogical potential of using the Kinect technology. To this end, we explored the…

Thermally activated analysis of experimental data allows considering about the structure features of each material. By modelling the structural heterogeneity of materials by means of rheological models, general and local plastic flows in metals and alloys can be described over. Based on physical fundamentals of failure and deformation of materials…

The conduction of electricity is an important topic for any basic physics course. Issues of safety often results in teacher demonstration experiments in front of the class or in extremely simple though--for students--not really fascinating (not to say boring) hands on activities for everybody using 1.5 V batteries, cables and light bulbs etc. Here…

In this article, Paul Black reflects on his career's enrichment, due to the commitment of Kevin Keohane in the 1960s and 70s to reform the school science education. Black's commentary is based on a paper written by Kevin Keohane, ("Physics Education--21 Years On," 1987 "Phys. Educ." 22 142) where Keohane recalls the innovations…

This paper deals with what it means to sense and touch a real image formed by a spherical mirror using a proximity sensor commonly utilized in smart phones.

A quick survey of physics textbooks shows that many (Knight, Young, and Serway for example) cover estimation, significant digits, precision versus accuracy, and uncertainty in the first chapter. Estimation "Fermi" questions are so useful that there has been a column dedicated to them in "TPT" (Larry Weinstein's "Fermi…

In this note we unify two physical situations treatable with hydrostatics: an object floating on a denser fluid and an open U-shaped tube with two immiscible fluids. We begin by reviewing the problem of a partially floating uniform, rectangular prism of horizontal area "A" immersed in a denser fluid, with respective densities ?[subscript…

The mechanical energy change of a system in an inertial frame of reference equals work done by the total nonconservative force in the same frame. This relation is covariant under the Galilean transformations from inertial frame S to S', where S' moves with constant velocity relative to S. In the presence of nonconservative forces, such as normal…

A disco ball is a spherical object covered with small plane mirrors. When light reflects on these mirrors, it is scattered in many directions, producing a novel effect. The mirror globe is usually set to rotate, creating a profusion of moving spots (Fig. 1). In this article, we present a geometrical description of the movement of these spots and…

A key factor in supporting talent development among gifted students is the fostering of a growth mindset in their learning. However, there has been little research on the subject-specific mindsets of these students and their teachers. This study examined the mindsets of academically gifted Finnish upper-secondary students (N = 164) and Finnish…

Unlike general approaches to learning, the Causalitic-Thinking Approach, aims to construct phenomena that have more than one possible answer. However this approach requires scaffolding strategies. This study aims to investigate the strategy of developing scaffolding in learning with the Causalitic-Thinking Approach to increase students'…

This study focused on determining the elements of mental models of atomic structure and views on visual representations of models of atomic structure in two sub-cohorts of student teachers studying at a university in Turkey. In total, 141 student teachers participated in this study. In the first cohort, the focus was on 73 freshman science student…

Here we present an inexpensive proposal to experimentally study Faraday's law of induction. The experiment uses low-cost materials, a computer with a sound card and a smartphone, both running free software. A value proportional to the induced electromotive force is measured with the computer's sound card and the data related to the magnetic field…