This article describes a hands-on educational activity designed to introduce students (or industrial employees) in the pharmaceutical arena to some of the most common problems in the mixing of solids: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and lubricant (i.e. magnesium stearate) homogenization, characterization of segregation tendencies, and…

Many recipes for elementary science activities suggest making carbon dioxide from baking soda and vinegar; however, they often do not give exact measurements of the ingredients. The author was able to turn this "drawback" into a plus by challenging her fifth-grade students to find the "ultimate fizz"--i.,e., "What amount of baking soda added to a…

In this article, the authors present a new way of teaching the phases of the Moon. Through the introduction of a "self shadow" (an idea of a shadow that is not well-known), they illuminate students' understanding of the phases of the Moon and help them understand the distinction between the shadows that cause eclipses and the shadows that relate…

Teachers often rely on student questions, their observations of students at work, and their own intuition to monitor how well students are learning. However, the authors found that teachers learn more about their students when they use the four-step Reflective Assessment Technique that draws on guided teacher reflections to inform classroom…

Understanding the particulate nature of matter (PNM) is vital for participating in many areas of science. We assessed 11 students' atomic/molecular-level explanations of real-world phenomena after their participation in a modelling-based PNM unit. All 11 students offered a scientifically acceptable model regarding atomic/molecular behaviour in…

As part of the "Car Lab Project," students constructed rubber band cars, raced them, and worked through a number of automotive activities. The students engaged in this project certainly had fun, but they also used high-tech gear such as motion sensors and graphing calculators to gather data on the distance and time cars traveled and to generate…

With the radon measurement activities at Stockholm House of Science, nuclear and experimental physics is introduced in a way that attracts the attention and interest of the students. These projects give the students the opportunity to use mobile detectors, either in their school, in the House of Science or in their homes. During 2006, 34 radon…

In this article the authors present an analogy, "Apple Activity," designed to help science teachers and students reflect upon science instruction and learning at the three conceptual levels of scientific understanding--macroscopic level, sub-microscopic/particle level, and symbolic level. Analogies are useful instructional tools that improve…

It is well-known that a party balloon can be made to fly erratically across a room, but it can also be used for quantitative measurements of other aspects of aerodynamics. Since a balloon is light and has a large surface area, even relatively weak aerodynamic forces can be readily demonstrated or measured in the classroom. Accurate measurements…

It is important that students have the opportunity to experience the nature and processes of science for themselves. The sequence of activities presented in this paper--Draw-a-Scientist and the Mystery Box Redux--were designed to help students better understand the nature of science (NOS) and engage them in the process of scientific inquiry. These…

I find that students have difficulty with Hamilton's principle, at least the first time they come into contact with it, and therefore it is worth designing some examples to help students grasp its complex meaning. This paper supplies the simplest example to consolidate the learning of the quoted principle: that of a free particle moving along a…

Students in the normal technical stream are generally less academically inclined. Teaching physics to them can be a challenge. A possible way to engage such kinaesthetic learners is to encourage them to fabricate physics-based toys. The activity described in this article shows how a group of three students were able to come up with a creative…

Electronics instructors and students find it very helpful to be able to check an operational amplifier at the proto-board stage. Most students lack the experience or knowledge that it takes to recognize whether an op-amp is operating normally or not. This article discusses a handy op-amp checker that allows one to check and/or test op-amps at the…

The hydrologic cycle is a very basic scientific principle. In this article, background information is presented on how the hydrologic cycle provides scientists with clues to understanding the history of Earth's climate. Also detailed is a web-based activity that allows students to learn about how scientists are able to piece together a record of…

When teaching science to kids, a visual approach is good. Humor is also good. And blowing things up is really, really good. At least that is what educators at the Exploratorium in San Francisco have found in the nine years since the museum began producing a live, off-the-cuff competition called Iron Science Teacher. Modeled after the Japanese cult…