This article discusses how Google Earth represents an exciting opportunity to incorporate active learning in Earth science courses. Web-based Google Earth is easier to use than its initial incarnation that required users to download a large file in order to access the tool. Google Earth for Chrome can be used to engage students in activities that…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the studies, which include Item Response Theory among the keywords, available in the Web of Science database between 1980-2018 through bibliometric analysis method. A total of 1,367 academic works has been analyzed. The authors, journals and countries having the highest number of studies in the field and…

Most springs do not simply obey Hooke's law because they are constructed to have an initial tension, which must be overcome before normal elongation occurs. This property, well known to engineers, is universally neglected in elementary physics courses. In particular, the standard simple harmonic motion experiment omits any discussion of this…

The pendulum has a great relevance in physics and it has been explored in educational papers from many theoretical or experimental points of view (see, for example, Refs. 1-12 and references therein). Here a method for the measurement of the gravitational acceleration with a large number of trials is presented; we assume that the systematic errors…

At some point in the future, if mankind hopes to settle planets outside our solar system, it will be crucial to determine the range of planetary conditions under which human beings could survive and function. In this article, we apply physical considerations to determine the limitations that gravity imposes on several systems governing the human…

Standard glass pH electrodes are ubiquitous instruments used in research and in classrooms to measure the hydrogen ions present in a solution. While many chemists and educators have communicated ways to support teaching conceptual understanding of solution pH and the function of pH probes and dyes, the community lacks a methodology that enables…

Epistemological views characterise how individuals view the certainty, source and organization of knowledge. Previous research has demonstrated some relationships between epistemological views and nature of science (NOS) views. These relationships may be particularly interesting for biology students who are learning about topics such as evolution…

The conservation law of energy and momentum can be examined and demonstrated by a well-known collision experiment. In this experiment, several identical elastic balls are suspended from a horizontal frame. When the ball at one end is pulled aside and released, thus allowing it to swing like a pendulum, it hits the next ball. The outcome is…

According to the World Economic Forum (2016), "more than one third (36%) of all jobs across all industries" (p.21) need problem-solving as a key skill. Trilling and Fadel (2009) noted the shift from industrial to knowledge-based economies, requiring students not only to possess content knowledge but also have skills that enable them to…

This forum paper is a reflection about the paper written by Valérie Frède and illustrates how it influences my work as a Ph.D. student in education. It focuses mainly on the relationship to knowledge and the clash between student culture and Western science culture in classroom. In this forum paper, I will briefly explain why these two ideas seems…

A method for the synthesis of flufenamic acid, a nonstereoidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) of the anthranilate family (fenams), is described as an experiment for the upper-division undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. The key step is the formation of the diarylamine moiety of flufenamic acid by a novel reaction consisting of the coupling…

Dispersion forces are ubiquitous in chemistry, yet they are often misunderstood. This article provides background into why they are called dispersion forces and explains how to describe them in terms of time-independent quantum mechanics. The article also describes the breakdown of the multipole series that is often used to describe dispersion…

This paper describes a simple and effective trick with a ball on a flat surface. The trick does not require any skills, is surprising and can provide an attention-grabbing, fun introduction for high school students into the topic of pure rolling motion versus rolling with slipping.

Protein engineering represents a modern approach to generate novel proteins for the different fields of biotechnology. Here, we report about an 8-day laboratory activity in which students generate enzyme variants to degrade the herbicide glyphosate. The students conduct a true research experiment in an important field (bioremediation by novel,…

Analysis of collisions is standardly included in the introductory physics course. In one dimension (1D), there do not seem to be any unusual issues: Typically, the initial velocities of the two colliding objects are specified, and the problem is to find the final velocities. In 1D there are therefore two unknown variables. One can write the…