This study investigated whether young children make strategic decisions about whether to lie to conceal a transgression based on the lie recipient's knowledge. In Experiment 1, 168 3- to 5-year-olds were asked not to peek at the toy in the experimenter's absence, and the majority of children peeked. Children were questioned about their…

Transitivity of preferences has been investigated for a long time in decision-making. In the field of perception, the pleasantness of odors raises several questions related to individual versus cultural or universal preferences and the existence of a classification in a delimited hedonic space. The aim of this study was to test transitivity in…

A recent paper in this journal describes an experimental demonstration of the conservation of total momentum before, during, and after an elastic collision between two bodies. The experiment also appears to show that total kinetic energy is conserved in the process, including "during" the collision. There is a danger that this may give rise to…

A fundamental issue in the design and the interpretation of experimental studies of perception relates to the question of whether the participants in these experiments could perform the perceptual task assigned to them using another feature, or cue, than that intended by the experimenter. An approach frequently used by auditory- and…

A recent article in "The Physics Teacher" describes a method for analyzing a systematic error in a Boyle's law laboratory activity. Systematic errors are important to consider in physics labs because they tend to bias the results of measurements. There are numerous laboratory examples and resources that discuss this common source of error.

Noticing the presence of colourless crystals in a glass of white wine was the starting point for some simple experiments to identify their chemical nature. The author did not succeed in identifying the chemical, but learned about the presence of an acid-base indicator. In retrospect, he was aware of the special chemical way he had considered the…

Floating and sinking might be common phenomena, encountered on a daily basis, but still represent conceptually complex scientific topics. Research has shown that most students have certain experiences and their own "theories" that explain why objects sink or float. Unfortunately, many of these "theories" are either misconceptions or are valid only…

Electromagnetic resonators are often used to detect foreign materials. Here we present a simple experiment for the measurement of liquid level. The resonator, consisting of a coil and a capacitor, is brought to resonance by an external magnetic field source, and the corresponding resonance frequency is determined using Fourier analysis combined…

This experiment evaluated the effects of training tutors to use an instructional package to teach pronunciation and translation of the Chinese language. Tutors' correct use of the package increased from 68% of trials to 92% after training, and student correct pronunciation increased from 45% to 90%, with similar effects for translation. Continued…

This article discusses improvements to two "classic" demonstrations of the interaction force between a magnet and a current-carrying conductor, which it is hoped will both interest and delight readers. Creating new demonstrations of fundamental phenomena in physics is the most rewarding activity for the keen demonstrator. A close second is the…

The main research question in this article concerns the added value of a prescriptive model in a simulation/gaming environment: KM Quest. KM Quest is meant to support students in the acquisition of both declarative and procedural knowledge in the domain of Knowledge Management (KM). The prescriptive model (KM model) embedded in the KM Quest…

This study investigates the effects of successive and simultaneous information presentation methods on learner's visual search ability and working memory load for different information densities. Since the processing of information in the brain depends on the capacity of visual short-term memory (VSTM), the limited information processing capacity…

Two experiments were conducted investigating the role of visual sequential memory skill in the word recognition efficiency of undergraduate university students. Word recognition was assessed in a lexical decision task using regularly and strangely spelt words, and nonwords that were either standard orthographically legal strings or items made from…

The mental model theory postulates that the meanings of assertions, and knowledge about their context can "modulate" the logical meaning of sentential connectives, such as "if" and "or". One known effect of modulation is to block the representation of possibilities to which a proposition refers. But, modulation should also add relational…

This article features the project, "Build Your Own Particle Smasher" and shares how to build a particle smasher project. A-level and AS-level students from Trinity Catholic School have built their own particle smashers, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, as part of The Royal Society's Partnership Grants Scheme. The…