The aim of this research was to explore students' application of theoretical knowledge in real-life situations using pulley systems in a competition designed for primary school students. The study was conducted with 24 primary school students who had completed year seven, and who volunteered to participate in a summer science camp. In groups, the…

Nowadays, the use of information technology (ICT) in education is nothing new. But the question is where the limit is when the use of ICT does not have the desired effect. In the paper we discuss the use of simulations in the teaching process that can positively influence students' achievements. At the beginning of the paper we present the results…

An old comedy routine on Saturday Night Live by Father Guido Sarducci introduced a "Five-Minute University," because five minutes is all that's remembered after graduation anyway. In counterpoint, we discuss "cycling," a teaching method for memory enhancement. Our principal implementation consists of offering a simple version…

In 2 experiments we examined the role of (a) specificity, (b) the type of targeted learning activities, and (c) learners' prior knowledge for the effects of relevance instructions on learning from instructional explanations. In Experiment 1, we recruited novices regarding the topic of atomic structure (N = 80) and found that "specific"…

The current use of two sets of units in the UK continues to be a source of muddle and confusion. Young people are taught metric (SI) units in school but, in the outside world, still have to contend with units such as inches, feet, pounds, stones and miles. Specialist teachers and practitioners of the sciences are not blameless. This paper…

The plasma state is included in the unit on matter and its properties in the 9th grade Physics course secondary school curriculum prepared by the Ministry of National Education of Turkey. Any tools and equipment required by tests to be conducted in the scope of the Physics course curriculum are in general easily accessible. However, in cases in…

"Mathematical modeling of the physical world should be the central theme of physics instruction" (Hestenes 1987). Science teachers know this, but because of standardized state testing, many math teachers and some science teachers feel the need to focus on memorizing facts that will be on a multiple-choice test (Volante 2004). As a…

As part of an ongoing project to examine student learning in upper-division courses in thermal and statistical physics, we have examined student reasoning about entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. We have examined reasoning in terms of heat transfer, entropy maximization, and statistical treatments of multiplicity and probability. In…

This study concentrates on evaluating the consistency of upper-division students' use of the second law of thermodynamics at macroscopic and microscopic levels. Data were collected by means of a paper and pencil test (N = 48) focusing on the macroscopic and microscopic features of the second law concerned with heat transfer processes. The data…

Most introductory quantum physics instructors would agree that transitioning students from classical to quantum thinking is an important learning goal, but may disagree on whether or how this can be accomplished. Although (and perhaps because) physicists have long debated the physical interpretation of quantum theory, many instructors choose to…

This paper describes the preliminary stages in physics problem-solving related to the use of external representation. This empirical study was carried out using a phenomenographic approach to analyze data from individual thinking-aloud and interviews with 8 senior high school students and 7 physics teachers. The result of this study is a set of…

Mathematics plays a crucial role in physics. This role is brought about predominantly through the building, employment, and assessment of mathematical models, and teachers and educators should capture this relationship in the classroom in an effort to improve students' achievement and attitude in both physics and mathematics. But although there…

Thermal equilibrium is a basic concept in thermodynamics. In India, this concept is generally introduced at the first year of undergraduate education in physics and chemistry. In our earlier studies (Pathare and Pradhan 2011 "Proc. episteme-4 Int. Conf. to Review Research on Science Technology and Mathematics Education" pp 169-72) we…

Since October 2010, the Chemistry-Biology Combined Major Program, an international course taught in English at Osaka University, has been teaching small classes (no more than 20 in size). We present data from the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) given to first-year classical mechanics students (N = 47 students over three years) pre and post score,…

Seeking a historical-philosophical approach to science teaching, narrative texts have been used as pedagogical tools to improve the learning experience of students. A review of the literature of different types of narrative texts and their different rates of effectiveness in science education is presented. This study was developed using the…