Discusses the benefits of linking schools in different parts of the world. Provides a list of what to do and what not to do in setting up such a program. Describes some of the opportunities available to teachers and students. (DDR)

Analyses the ways in which university-entrant science students carry out and communicate experimental activities, and identifies a model to explain characteristic communication practices. Observes the investigative strategies of participant students who have a lack of experience with laboratory work and scientific writing. Uses laboratory reports…

Considers the extent to which educational computer programs can affect educational results and what their usefulness is in the process of learning physics. Presents experimental research concerning the dependence of the level of students' cognitive activity in learning physics with computer programs, particularly learning by doing in the…

Explores the relationships among science and engineering attitudes, physics conceptual understanding, and physics achievement for a population of college freshman engineering students. Assesses a sample of freshman engineering students (n=200) participating in an integrated curriculum with the Force Concepts Inventory (FCI), Mechanics Baseline…

Describes a laboratory-based program in physics designed to help students build effective links between the mathematical equations used to solve problems in mechanics and the real world of moving objects. Conducts the study among senior college students and points out the value of laboratory work in science education for development of thinking…

Introduces an integrated unit on scuba science. Studies oxygen in kinetic theory, Boyle's law, Charles's law, Dalton's law, human circulatory and respiratory systems, and diving dangers such as decompression sickness. (YDS)

Presents an activity on waves that addresses the state standards and benchmarks of Michigan. Demonstrates waves and studies wave's medium, motion, and frequency. The activity is designed to address different learning styles. (YDS)

Teaches concepts such as inertia, gravity, and friction using a "Lunch Box Derby" activity. Uses vegetables for the construction of race cars. Explains student approaches during the design and construction portion. Describes the rubrics used for student evaluation. (YDS)

To learn how e-prints are cited, used, and accepted in the literature of physics and astronomy, the philosophies, policies, and practices of approximately 50 top-tier physics and astronomy journals regarding e-prints from the Los Alamos e-print archive were examined. Results provide a sense of the current impact of the evolution of e-prints on the…

Reports on part of a larger study of how 11- and 12-year-old students construct knowledge of electricity and magnetism by drawing on aspects of their experiences during the course of a school visit to an interactive science museum and subsequent classroom activities linked to the science museum exhibits. (Contains 24 references.) (Author/YDS)

Investigates high school students' knowledge of natural phenomena related to the concept of light flux as it applies to the seasons and illumination after they studied optics. Discusses didactic, cognitive, and ontological perspectives in relation to specific changes in the science curriculum. Contains 71 references. (DDR)

Examines quantitative models in school physics, looking particularly at the degree to which they match the real world. Explores the positive aspects of a mismatch between models and real world conditions. (DDR)

Outlines an alternative atomic model to the probability model, the descriptive quantum atomic model Electronium. Discusses the way in which it is intended to support students in learning quantum-mechanical concepts. (Author/MM)

Does a sensori-motor experience help a physics student understand the movement of molecules in solids, liquids, and gases? Students aged 9-10 were given either traditional demonstrations of solids, liquids, and gases and the variation of molecular motion with temperature (iconic presentation), or they were involved in physical activities as they…

Describes an epistemological framework and an associated research method. The framework focuses on the structural relations of individual and setting as experienced by the individual. The analysis consists in zooming to identify patterns that simultaneously occur at multiple levels. Uses data from a physics classroom where students learn to…