Every day we deal with chemistry in various forms, but sometimes we don't see that. An example is biosensors that help us to evaluate health conditions, monitor environmental pollution and ensure food freshness. The most well known (and most widely sold) is the biosensor for blood glucose measurement, used every day by people with diabetes.…

This study aimed to examine teachers' satisfaction with and needs for earth science model experiments science textbooks used in primary schools. To this end, 103 primary school teachers participated in an online survey, and five teachers with doctorates in science education theory were interviewed. The findings of the study were as follows. First,…

Induced seismicity has received a lot of attention in recent years. This new natural phenomenon appeared as a result of active human influence on nature. The phenomenon has been detected in places of natural gas and oil recovery, and geological storage of CO[subscript 2]. One of the main reasons for the observed seismic activity is associated with…

Huygens' principle in which every point on a propagating wave acts like a point source of radiation is a foundation principle of physics. Normally, Huygens' principle is demonstrated by passing a wave, for example a water or light wave through an aperture comparable in size to the wavelength. In this paper, an experiment is described in which a…

In this study, we develop a capacitive rotating angle sensing system using a hand-made 1 kHz oscillator, field-effect transistor (FET) amplifier, and tester through a physics experiment conducted in Ryukoku University. Physics majors of the university can study the fundamentals of electronics through this system because it uses electronic…

When a new topic is introduced in the curriculum, teachers seek various ways to teach students the related concepts. For the novel topic 'materials' in the revised Dutch curriculum, I developed an experiment in which students determine Young's modulus using a guitar string. The experiment not only covers several concepts related to 'materials' it…

This paper provides seven topics on sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO[subscript 3]) and its ions for readers looking for familiar material phenomena to strengthen students' understanding of the chemical concepts of thermodynamics. The first concept is the ideal gas law, followed by the van't Hoff equation, Gibbs energy, pH change, chemical…

Infrared (IR), or radiation, thermometers are widely used in temperature measurements in many different sectors from health, food, automotive, agriculture, iron and steel to chemistry due to their fast measurement capabilities, reasonable prices, wide measurement ranges and ease of use. IR thermometers work based on black body radiation. In this…

Experimental results are presented on the collision of a superball with two different wood blocks. The results are in reasonable agreement with a simple collision model where kinetic energy is conserved, but better agreement is obtained if a small loss of kinetic energy is assumed, as observed. The physics is slightly more complicated than the…

A digital learning-teaching environment is introduced in which undergraduate students are challenged to connect the basic physical concepts of oscillation, buoyancy and data analysis via an authentic experiment. The damped oscillation of a cylindrical body swimming upright in water is measured via the MEMS acceleration sensor of a wireless MCU…

Volatile-mediated impacts of microbes on plants have aroused interest among scientists in the life science field. This study describes an inquiry-based laboratory module named "Microbial Talk", which related to microbial volatile-mediated communication, including the process of design, implementation, and assessment. First-year biology…

Newton's cradle is a well-known physics toy that is commonly used by teachers to demonstrate conservation laws in mechanics. It can also be used to investigate the physics of colliding objects, by recording motion of the balls on video film. Various experiments are described using 3-ball and 5-ball cradles, showing how different types of collision…

The vertical bounce of a plastic egg was investigated by dropping the egg on a horizontal surface and filming the result with a video camera. If the egg is dropped on one end then it bounces just like a spherical ball. If the top end of the egg is pointing forwards or backwards when it lands on the surface, or if the egg is spinning when it lands,…

The ability to make informed decisions is a skill considered as one of the 21st century skills and is crucial as part of the critical thinking and problem-solving process in science and engineering. Despite its importance, students (e.g., beginning designers) often struggle with making informed design decisions that are well supported by relevant…

Designing and interpreting controlled experiments are important inquiry skills addressed in many current science curricula. The relevant skills associated with the design and interpretation of controlled experiments are summarised under the term control-of-variables strategy (CVS). Research on elementary school students' CVS skills shows that they…