Discusses the operation of the "drinking bird" science toy. Suggests a fluid for building drinking birds and variations to arouse student curiosity. (MVL)

Argues people have forgotten how much of an idealization the Newtonian world view actually is. For this reason, people have come to believe that we can only "see" the world in three spatial dimensions. Describes an alternative idealization, or set of pictures, that would lead to find the claim that the universe is a four-dimensional…

Describes a toy shaped like a bird that has an intuitively astonishing property: no matter how far away from equilibrium it is moved, it oscillates back to equilibrium. The behavior of this physical system is explained and is used to illustrate the concept of mechanical stability and the usefulness of making simple, idealized models for describing…

A group of 26 high-school physics teachers completed a card-sorting task to prioritize their choices of topics to include in the physics curriculum. Mechanics, electricity, and magnetism emerged as most important. Covering these topics conflicted with teachers' goals to impart deep conceptual understanding of physics in their students. (33…

Describes how to grow crystals of para-dichlorobenzene beginning with household mothballs. The crystals form through sublimation (solid to gas) and deposition (gas to solid). Also discusses demonstrations of evaporation and condensation and odor perception, which can support a study of the kinetic theory and phases of matter. (WRM)

Reports on a study of student understanding of the wave nature of matter in the context of the pattern produced by the diffraction and interference of particles. Errors made by students after standard instruction indicates the presence of similar conceptual and reasoning difficulties at three different educational levels. (Contains over 20…

Explores how the apparent loss of energy in inelastic collisions may be understood by considering a simple model of two rigid balls connected by a spring. Includes a numerical simulation of this and an extension to include Newton's Cradle. (DDR)

Describes the use of microcomputers in physics experiments to extend powers of observation, increase the accuracy of measurements taken, and obtain large amounts of high quality information, especially continuous and rapidly changing/moving data. Discusses software for interfacing a microcomputer with mechanics experiments. (JRH)

Describes how the sound card of a personal computer can be used to collect data in physics experiments. Discusses gravity and simple waveforms. (Author/MM)

Shows an example of bad physics by illustrating that the tidal effect is caused not only by the moon but also by the sun. Proves that differences in the gravitational tug on water at various parts of a basin is responsible for tidal mechanism. (CCM)

Investigates students' conceptions of force, their methodological characteristics, and their most widely used theoretical foundations. Compares research carried out from 1975-1985 with later research in the period 1985-1995. (Contains 85 references.) (Author/YDS)

Identifies students' conceptions that could be categorized as scientifically acceptable and investigates the nature of any possible relationship between these concepts. Investigates 6th and 10th grade students' ideas on whether gravity acted upon a series of moving or non-moving objects in everyday situations. (Contains 41 references.) (Author/YDS)

The 13th iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2020) was originally arranged to take place in Ifrane, Morocco. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) epidemic, EDM 2020, as well as most other academic conferences in 2020, had to be changed to a purely online format. To facilitate efficient transmission of…

The published output of a new, small sub-field of physics--that of dye lasers--is analyzed statistically. (JB)