Based on empirical findings and theoretical considerations related to the field of expertise research, the importance of "types" and "qualities" of knowledge in relation to problem solving in physics was investigated. The students (N = 138) in this study had a level of competence that corresponds to an intensive beginner college course in physics.…

In view of the research on education--and subject-related education in particular--that has been conducted in recent years, it would seem useful to describe the current state and future trends of research on science teaching and learning. In the present article, research findings are described, the deficits of science education are analyzed, and…

The traditional order in which science courses are taught in U.S. high schools is biology, chemistry, physics. The physics course usually is regarded as very difficult because it requires both high-level mathematical skills and high-level thinking skills; it is taught in the final year of high school to provide time for students to develop the…

A teaching--learning sequence is presented that is designed to help high school pupils gain awareness about the independence of the vertical and horizontal components of free fall motion. The approach we propose is based on the use of experimental activities and computer simulations designed specifically to help pupils reflect on the experiments…

Students of General Physics often complain that the course is too abstract and remote from daily life. As teachers, we emphasize that the abstract concepts of physics are indispensable for understanding our daily experiences, and we try to give the impression that quantitative descriptions can be achieved by adopting concrete mathematical…

Turkey has a central educational system in which all of the programs are designed by the Ministry of National Education and distributed to the implementing institutions. As a part of this system, the textbooks written by different writers need to be approved by the commission called Talim Terbiye Kurulu, and these approved books are chosen as…

This research presents a Web-based learning and instructional system for Pneumatics. The system includes course material, remote data acquisition modules, and a pneumatic laboratory set. The course material is in the HTML format accompanied with text, still and animated images, simulation programs, and computer aided design tools. The data…

The model of the Big Bang is an integral part of the national curricula in England and Wales. Previous work (e.g. Baxter 1989) has shown that pupils often come into education with many and varied prior misconceptions emanating from both internal and external sources. Whilst virtually all of these misconceptions can be remedied, there will remain…

Socially aware science literacy courses are sorely needed in every nation that is industrialized and democratic. This article puts societal topics into the more general context of science literacy, suggests that socially significant topics can fit comfortably into a physics literacy course, looks at energy and environment issues, and discusses how…

The purpose of this article is to present an interdisciplinary project, developed as a collaborative effort by the authors, involving the design of a telescope mirror as it was given to second semester calculus students. The goals of the project are to provide an applied setting for the topics typically covered in this type of course including the…

This study focused on students' misconceptions related to evaporation, evaporation rate, and vapour pressure. Open-ended diagnostic questions were used with 107 undergraduates in the Primary Science Teacher Training Department in a state university in Turkey. In addition, 14 students from that sample were interviewed to clarify their written…

Some students may find physics hard, but wouldn't it be more difficult to be taught it in a foreign language? The project described here uses English to teach physics to Spanish secondary school students. The students perform just as well in physics while their results in English improve markedly.

The "Hands on CERN" education project makes it possible for students and teachers to get close to the forefront of scientific research. The project confronts the students with contemporary physics at its most fundamental level with the help of particle collisions from the DELPHI particle physics experiment at CERN. It now exists in 14 languages…

The phenomenon of resonance is applicable to almost every branch of physics. Without resonance, there wouldn't be televisions or stereos, or even swings on the playground. However, resonance also has undesirable side effects such as irritating noises in the car and the catastrophic events such as helicopters flying apart. In this article, the…

A model for a shared nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) facility between a private university and two local community colleges is presented. The discussion of the components required for the shared facility, modes of data distribution, and overall effect on the curriculum is presented.