The usage of symbol, unit and formula of some fundamental physical quantities are quite important for science and engineering students regardless of their majors. The purpose of the present research was to examine the students' knowledge regarding the usage of symbol, unit, and formula of the fundamental physical quantities. The opinions of…

While it has been demonstrated how air resistance could be analyzed by using mobile devices, this paper demonstrates a method of how to determine the drag resistance coefficient "c" of a commercial automobile by using the acceleration sensor of a smartphone or tablet. In an academic context, the drag resistance is often mentioned, but…

The present article demonstrates a way of programming using an Excel spreadsheet to teach Fourier series expansion in school/colleges without the knowledge of any typical programming language. By using this, a student learns to approximate partial sum of the n terms of Fourier series for some periodic signals such as square wave, saw tooth wave,…

A simple throwing task is described to illustrate various aspects of projectile motion. The task was to throw a tennis ball in a waste paper bin about 2 m away. Success depends on skill, but it also depends on the physics of the problem. If the ball is thrown underarm, then success depends primarily on the throw speed, which must be controlled to…

This study aims to design a mechanism with which the density of any solid or liquid can be determined without measuring its mass and volume in order to help students comprehend the concept of density more easily. The "solidensimeter" comprises of two scaled and nested glass containers (graduated cylinder or beaker) and sufficient water.…

A simple and low-cost, DIY-type, Arduino-driven experiment is presented for the study of friction and measurement of the friction coefficient, using a conductive rubber cord as a force sensor. It is proposed for high-school or college/university-level students. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile planning, designing and performing Arduino…

This work describes a simple experiment to measure the resistor temperature as a function of the applied power and proves that it is an efficient way to introduce some important physical concepts in classroom, including the Joule's first law, hot-spot temperature, thermal resistance, thermal dissipation constant, time constant and the Newton's law…

We present a method to analyse how pre-service science teachers relate events, ideas, characters and deeds in history of science and in cultural and general history. A group of 25 students presented their views they deemed to be of importance in history of science, culture, society and politics in era between 1550 and 1850. The sample is based on…

A low-cost alternative to the typical scientific laboratory water bath or a hot plate stirrer water bath is proposed. Readily available immersion circulators have been developed for sous vide cooking. These precision cookers are designed to maintain water at an exact temperature and thus are well-suited for the similar laboratory requirements of a…

Fostering the development of students' critical thinking (CT) is regarded as an essential outcome of higher education. However, despite the large body of research on this topic, there has been little consensus on how educators best support the development of CT. In view of some of the controversies surrounding the teaching of CT skills in higher…

Measuring understanding is notoriously difficult. Indeed, in formulating learning outcomes the word 'understanding' is usually avoided, but in the sciences, developing understanding is one of the main aims of instruction. Scientific knowledge is factual, having been tested against empirical observation and experimentation, but knowledge of facts…

Project-based learning has been shown to be an effective pedagogical strategy that motivates students and thus promotes learning. In this article we describe a project-based unit centered on the physics of solar cookers (Fig. 1 and 3). Our goal was to elevate the solar cooker from a summer camp activity to a college-level project that could be…

The Institute of Physics curriculum committee has been looking at ways of framing schoollevel physics so that it gives students a rewarding and productive experience of physics and leaves them with positive views of the discipline and its cultural contribution, as well as lasting and detailed skills, knowledge and understanding. The result is some…

Addressing student conceptions with instruction has been a major issue in physics education for decades. However, too often the focus is on treating student ideas as "misconceptions" rather than as potentially productive ideas with varying degrees of sophistication. This paper introduces "learning progressions" as models that…

An important but challenging problem-solving technique in introductory mechanics is that of using "tilted axes." For inclined plane and centripetal motion problems, using axes that are aligned relative to the ramp direction or the radial direction (rather than the horizontal and vertical) yields equations that are conceptually more…