Previous research indicates children reason in different ways about horizontal motion and motion in fall. At the same time, their understanding of motion down inclines appears to result from an interaction between horizontal and vertical motion understanding. However, this interaction is still poorly understood. Understanding of speed change may…

In geriatric care, movement support skills of nurses are often limited, resulting in unnecessary functional decline of older adult residents and physical strain of nurses. Kinaesthetics training aims to improve movement competences of nurses and residents. The aim of this qualitative descriptive study is to describe nursing teams' experience with…

In our study, we aimed to compare the impact of simulations, sequences of printed simulation frames and conventional static diagrams on the understanding of students with regard to the one-dimensional kinematics. Our student sample consisted of three classes of middle years students (N = 63; mostly 15 year-olds). These three classes served as…

This quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the documentary films' influence on 8th grade students' nature of science views. The study's participants were 113 8th grade students from two different schools taught by two different teachers. The study was completed over a 6-week period, during which topics related to "Cell Division and…

For any given polyomino, is it possible to cut it into pieces and then hinge the pieces, so that the polyomino folds up into a similar version of itself but two levels thick? While we don't know how to do this for every polyomino, the article does show how to cut, hinge, and fold polyominoes from several infinite classes, providing an…

A description is given of a series of recent experiments using a rotating magnetic circuit comprising a permanent magnet ring and yoke, and a stationary conductor in the air gap between the ring and yoke. The EMF induced in this case cannot be described by a simple application of Faraday's flux law. This is because the magnetic flux in the air gap…

A new means of measuring the movement properties of the braille-reading finger is described and exemplified in an experiment in which experienced readers of braille encountered sentences comprised of keywords in which word and orthographic frequencies were manipulated. These new data are considered in theoretical and practical terms. (Contains 2…

Damped harmonic oscillations appear naturally in many applications involving mechanical and electrical systems as well as in biological systems. Most students are introduced to harmonic motion in an elementary ordinary differential equation (ODE) course. Solutions to ODEs that describe simple harmonic motion are usually found by investigating the…

The dynamics of a cylinder rolling on a horizontal plane acted on by an external force applied at an arbitrary angle is studied with emphasis on the directions of the acceleration of the centre-of-mass and the angular acceleration of the body. If rolling occurs without slipping, there is a relationship between the directions of these…

We analyse the force acting on a moving dipole due to an external electromagnetic field and show that the expression derived in Vekstein (1997 "Eur. J. Phys." 18 113) is erroneous and suggest the correct equation for the description of this force. We also discuss the physical meaning of the relativistic transformation of current for a closed…

Bertrand's theorem in classical mechanics of the central force fields attracts us because of its predictive power. It categorically proves that there can only be two types of forces which can produce stable, circular orbits. In this paper an attempt has been made to generalize Bertrand's theorem to the central force problem of relativistic…

One of the subjects that is confusing and difficult for students to fully comprehend is the concept of angular velocity and linear velocity. It is the relationship between linear and angular velocity that students find difficult; most students understand linear motion in isolation. In this article, we detail the design, construction and…

The aim of this study was to measure which three-dimensional spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters differentiate upper limb movement characteristics in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) from those in typically developing children (TDC), during various clinically relevant tasks. We used a standardized protocol containing three reach…

The commercial resonance demonstration apparatus shown in Fig. 1 exhibits curious behavior. It consists of three pairs of slender spring-steel rods attached to a horizontal bar. When one of the rods is pulled aside and released, the rod of corresponding length is excited into visible motion, but the other rods remain apparently stationary. This…

The air-cushion table is a powerful instrument to demonstrate the motion of an object in the absence of friction. Such devices are often rather large and do not fit very easily in the classroom. In a different version of this experience, gas comes directly out of the disc itself, which is provided, for example, by a tank of dry ice that slowly…