I always tell my students: "Physics is all around," and "Just observe carefully to learn physics." This paper describes one of my own experiences in looking carefully at light reflection and, in particular, the difference between specular reflection and diffuse reflection. I also describe how I have adapted this experience for use with my…

Rainbow-like spectra, produced by reflexive diffraction of white light on a CD, offer a spectacular visual effect as well as an excellent classroom opportunity for students to learn how physics works. In this paper we show that building a coherent qualitative explanation can be a challenging task that requires students to combine gained knowledge…

Plants and insects share a long evolutionary history characterized by relationships that affect individual, population, and community dynamics. Plant-herbivore interactions are a prominent feature of this evolutionary history; it is by plant-herbivore interactions that energy is transferred from primary producers to the rest of the food web. Not…

In this laboratory activity, students are introduced to the synthesis of an albendazole metabolite obtained by a sulfide oxidation reaction. Albendazole as well as its metabolite, albendazole sulfoxide, are used as anthelmintic drugs. The oxidation reagent is H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2] in acetic acid. The reaction is environmental friendly,…

This article describes a paper-and-pencil construction to determine and graphically depict with reasonable accuracy the times and azimuths of sunrise and sunset on any day of the year at any location on Earth. The construction requires, as input, a date (or the sun's declination) and the latitude and longitude of the location in question, and one…

Children learn about properties of materials as they walk through a fabric store, help in the kitchen, or dig in the garden. Directed explorations in the classroom build on these early experiences. In the inquiry-based activity described here, students prepare to learn about wet and dry ingredients (liquids and solids) and how they mix together by…

For several years, the author's fifth-grade students raised and observed plants, kept journals, and analyzed the functions of the parts of a plant. But this year, a near disaster taught her a lesson and increased the value of the activity for her students. Not only did students learn about plants, they now understand what a variable is and how…

We describe the design of a simple homemade apparatus for the measurement of the refractive indices of liquids and demonstration of refraction. A circular transparent plastic tank and a lazy Susan are held concentrically. A laser pointer is mounted on the lazy Susan with its laser beam pointing radially through the centre of the plastic tank.…

Reptiles and amphibians are a diverse and interesting group of organisms. The four activities described in this article take students' curiosity into the realm of scientific understanding. The activities involve the concepts of species identification; animal adaptations, communication, and habitat; and conservation. (Contains 1 table and 2…

Students' learning about the nature of science (NOS) consists of two related aspects that include their understandings of and ability to apply science processes, and their beliefs about NOS. To help students develop such understandings, the New Society activity gets them talking to each other about science, using the language of science such as…

Carbon dioxide is an excellent alternative to conventional methods of anesthetizing fruit flies as it is non-flammable and odorless. We have devised a method of constructing carbon dioxide stages used to keep "Drosophila" immobilized cheaply and easily using empty micropipette tip containers. (Contains 6 figures.)

Large tractor-trailers have a reputation of being involved in rather horrific accidents, often involving death and carnage among smaller passenger vehicles. The giant rigs, according to some transportation experts, may have outlived their usefulness on crowded highways, and perhaps it is time that people rethink their presence on the roads. In…

Many homes use pressurized diaphragm tanks for storage of water pumped from an underground well. These tanks are very carefully constructed to have separate internal chambers for the storage of water and for the air that provides the pressure. One might expect that the amount of water available for use from, for example, a 50-gallon tank would be…

An explanation of various principles of chemistry in a paper by Fanny Ennever by the use of candy is described. The paper explains components of sucrose and the invert sugar that results from the hydrolysis of sucrose and will help students in determining whether the products are indeed hydrates of carbon.

The impact of contrails on Earth's climate is researched to understand the active area. It is suggested that the process of contrail formation involves combustion, cooling and ice formation, which are good comprehensive learning exercise for physical chemistry students.