Reports on a preliminary project that uses a phenomenographic approach to explore the ways in which a small number of fundamental ideas are conceptualized by students who are judged to have mastered quantum mechanics material. (DDR)

Identifies subject and teaching knowledge that primary school teachers can use to effectively develop children's understanding of electricity and simple circuits. Presents a set of electricity concepts that are appropriate for primary children to explore. Contains 19 references. (DDR)

Outlines a course based on a series of experiments in which students are introduced to the behavior of electrical components without any references to Ohm's law. Argues that this approach has advantages over the traditional presentation. (DDR)

Summarizes an interdisciplinary undergraduate research project involving experimental physics and calculus and illustrates how mathematics was used to finesse incomplete experimental information and maximize physical quantity known as jerk. Describes how calculus can be applied in the "real world" where functions are not always given by nice…

Introduces a group activity in which students build a catapult. Includes a list of materials required for catapult construction and directions for testing. (YDS)

Investigates whether viewing computer animations representing the process of diffusion and osmosis affects students' conceptions. Discusses the difficulties of implementing computer animations in the classroom. (Contains 27 references.) (YDS)

Presents two exercises on the study of tropisms. Discusses gravitropism control mechanisms present in plants. (ASK)

Using a balance-beam task, studied 48 preschoolers to elucidate the process of knowledge construction from the emergence of new representation to transformed problem solving. Analyses revealed a multifaceted development from the first signs of weight representation to fully elaborated weight-based problem solving. Case studies of five children…

Examined whether infants believe that size of a moving object striking a stationary object will affect how far the stationary object is displaced. Found that the infants did believe the size of the test cylinder affected the length of the test object's displacement and that they used the initial familiarization event to calibrate their predictions…

Using ordering tasks in which 51 grade-12 students arranged fragmented text passages, it was observed that students produced a high number of texts with top-level structures that employed minimal organizational components and had recourse to local coherence criteria to organize the text. (PR)

Describes an introductory physics course at the University of the Western Cape that shifted its fundamental approach from a mathematical focus to a conceptual focus based on verbal and written articulation of understanding. Reports that this approach enhanced student understanding of introductory physics. Contains 21 references. (JRH)

Analyzes student discourse in 4 grade-12 lab groups working on microcomputer-based laboratories. Analysis reveals the role the computer plays in the group context and the ways that this context is shaped by the computer. Contains 22 references. (Author/JRH)

Argues that misunderstanding about the purpose of the salt bridge probably arises from a lack of explicit and adequate information in textbooks. Suggests a detailed teaching approach that describes the purpose of the salt bridge on the microscopic level. (DDR)

Adequate preparation of secondary physics teachers is vital to ensuring good physics teaching in schools. Presents a U.S. case study that describes an on-going program involving close collaboration between university science and education departments and also involving local schools. Introduces a new project, PhysTEC, which extends these ideas…

Reports on an exploratory study in which innovations in a piece of high school physics curriculum have been converted into innovations in methods and contents for physics teacher education. The case study concerns the teaching of physics modeling in a pre-service teacher training course. (Author/SAH)