This study aimed to determine the effect of the inquiry-discovery learning model on critical thinking skills and mastery of students' physics concepts on the topic of temperature and heat. This quasi-experimental research used posttest only control group design in which there are two groups in this design, each of which was selected randomly. The…

With the increasing technology integration practices in education, the adoption of computer simulations to teach conceptual understanding of science concepts is widely accepted by educators across the globe. To understand the connections between learners' engagement and satisfaction with simulations for science learning and their learning styles,…

In this work, we report the development of a low-cost Arduino-controlled device for didactic activities in light polarization. The main body of the prototype was designed and produced using laser-cut medium density fibreboard parts, including gears and pulleys. As a light source and detector, a 532 nm laser pointer and a light dependent resistor…

High school students' difficulties with quantum physics (QP) are partly due to their limited understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The essence of QP can only be understood with informed views about NOS aspects such as the role of models and the relevance of controversies between physicists. Inversely, QP is an ideal topic for teaching…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is the latest initiative to promote authentic scientific work in the classroom. Previous reform efforts have not caused the change in teacher practice and student learning that was hoped for, despite their ubiquity and accessibility. The culprit may be the culture of school that is often recalcitrant to…

This study explored teachers' conceptualizations of integrated computational modeling in secondary physics by exposing twelve experienced physics teachers to programming and then analyzing interview responses. Responses revealed that teachers fell along a spectrum of disciplinary boundary-stretching mentalities. This paper presents a preliminary…

This article describes how mathematics may be experienced in widely different ways across mathematics and physics courses and highlights some unexpected constraints in a trigonometry curriculum. The examples and discussion are based on a study (Mateas 2020) that compares how trigonometry is portrayed in representative physics (i.e., "Holt…

A number of useful and interesting exercises regarding nucleus and nuclear fission are performed to make these concepts more understandable to high school or even college students.

This qualitative, questionnaire and interview-based study explores how pre-service physics teachers think about the role that mathematics plays in the teaching and learning of physics at university and school level and whether these views change during their pre-service teacher education. Many of the pre-service teachers were aware of the complex…

Like learning analytics, physics education research is a relatively young field that draws on perspectives from multiple disciplines. Network analysis has an even more heterodox perspective, with roots in mathematics, sociology, and, more recently, computer science and physics. This paper reviews how network analysis has been used in physics…

Podcasts offer a unique tool in making science learning informative, engaging, and entertaining. They provide an excellent way to incorporate storytelling in science instruction. Podcasts can be accessed easily and free of cost on any internet-enabled device. Recording podcasts is also easy and inexpensive, making them useful to record lesson…

We've all experienced it in one way or another: bright, eager students start the year ready to tackle the biggest challenges in physics and life. Yet as the semester wears on and the physics gets more challenging, student enthusiasm waivers. They lose confidence and feel pressure to prove themselves worthy of a difficult and sometimes intimidating…

This study examined the effect of blended laboratory experiments on pre-service physics teachers' (PSPTs') attitudes toward physics laboratories. The research design was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test comparing groups. Participants were 63 2nd-year PSPTs' enrolled in a physics diploma program from three colleges of teacher education.…

Integrating scientific investigations into science instruction has been a global phenomenon. Particularly in the US, this emphasis has been suggested by the nation-wide science educational standards over decades. However, the details on how the integration could be carried out remain under discussed. The present study focuses on the integration of…

Scholars have suggested that student non-cognitive factors, such as attitudes, have contributed to the gender gap in STEM. Gender has been under investigation for students' attitudes towards science/physics, but student scientific attitudes (SA) have meagre exploration. This study examined the relationships between gender, SA (in terms of…