Analyzes students' misunderstanding of basic thermodynamic concepts on historical grounds. Finds that the persistence of some ideas from the caloric model are reinforced by magnitude names and unit definitions that were brought up at the early stages of thermodynamic development. Explores the failure of many popular textbooks to make a clear…

Explains the properties of charged objects, the nature of an electric charge, and interactions between electricity and magnetism. Suggests that the development of modern ideas about electricity and magnetism were not a linear progression. (Contains 34 references.) (Author/YDS)

Addresses questions concerning the cognitive character of 19th century British molecular discourse. Suggests that, precisely because of its fluid character, molecular discourse produced a common universe of meanings that sustained an ongoing thought experiment regarding the intimate structure of matter and that, by so doing, initiated a process of…

Explains how Henry Cavendish performed an experiment to measure the density of the earth. Considers the problems that can arise in maintaining the anachronisms of his approach. (MM)

Uses ancient technology to teach about physics. Focuses on the atlatl, the trebuchet, and the fire plow to explain work, projectile motion, and the transfer of energy. (YDS)

Explains how a balloon activity can be used to identify certain principles of flight. Describes where balloons fit in the science curriculum. (YDS)

The feasibility of the laboratory production of copper metal from a readily available, naturally occurring mineral malachite utilizing techniques that are consistent with the time period of around 4000 B.C.E. is presented. The starting materials are inexpensive and convenient and the procedure involves no hazardous reagents and produces no…

The capsule histories of physics that students learn in their physics courses stem basically, I believe, from a linear view of history--that physicists in making fundamental discoveries follow a Royal Road to them, as Hermann von Helmholtz put it in 1892. The actual routes they follow, however, are generally nonlinear, and when historians display…

Albert Einstein's theory of the Brownian motion, Marian von Smoluchowski's heuristic model, and Perrin's experimental results helped to bring the concept of molecules from a state of being a useful hypothesis in chemistry to objects existing in reality. Central to the theory of Brownian motion is the relation between mean particle displacement and…

This paper gives an account of the establishment and expansion of a Faculty of Science at the Calvinist "Free University" in the Netherlands in the 1930s. It describes the efforts of a group of orthodox Christians to come to terms with the natural sciences in the early twentieth century. The statutes of the university, which had been…

This article interrogates the relationship between technology and law enforcement and how changing police surveillance techniques have influenced Western expectations of privacy from the mid-19th century to the present. By examining the evolution of telecommunications devices in particular, the author identifies a diffuse and publicly inclusive…

This paper is the second of two parts and continues the conversation which had called for a shift in the conceptual focus of science education towards philosophy of education, with the requirement to develop a discipline-specific "philosophy" of science education. In Part I, conflicting conceptions of science literacy were identified with…

The characteristics and major events of early American science are discussed in this paper. The philosophical influences and scientific practices of prominent scientists in early American time periods are examined and referenced in terms of their orientation to inquiry-oriented methods. Specific descriptions of the scientific accomplishments of…

This paper considers the term "authentic science" and its meaning with respect to science education. In particular, three relevant denotations of authenticity are applied to nine facets of science. These facets include methodological and epistemological aspects of science, personal, private, public, historical, societal and technological…

Describes origin of amicus curiae brief submitted in response to the Louisiana Balanced Treatment Act for creation science and evolution science that had been struck down in the Federal Court of Louisiana in 1985 and was being appealed to the Supreme Court. Discusses the historical significance for the collective defining and defending of science…