Interviews were conducted with grade 10 students (n=34) who had received 4 years of physics instruction. Interview's focus was to understand students' responses from their point of view. The results of the study confirm and deepen findings from other studies concerning students' severe difficulties in learning the energy concept, the particle…

Describes a course, "Great Ideas in Science," for undergraduate nonscience major students. The course emphasizes a few key overarching concepts in physics, chemistry, geology, and biology to introduce students to the essential aspects of science without getting involved in the complex vocabulary or rigorous mathematical derivations. (PR)

The forces and torques experienced by the spine are examined to understand, and possibly avoid, low back pain. The structure, degrees of freedom, forces and torques when lifting objects, an experimental study, and other factors affecting the back are discussed. (KR)

Investigates how 20 English primary teachers understand the concepts of force and gravity. Uses the interview about instances technique. Finds teachers' views of these concepts are not in accord with accepted scientific interpretations but similar to those of children's views. Discusses implications of the findings. (NL)

Based on the premise that body experiences interfere inconveniently with scientific ideas in mechanics instruction. Suggests that learning processes start with body experiences and, with guidance, transform them into something scientific. Discusses this process for the static and kinetic aspects of force and for measurement. (MDH)

The ways in which the concept of acceleration is treated in physics textbooks is compared with understandings of the concept demonstrated by final-year secondary (n=30) and first-year university students (n=60). Some students' understanding are shown to be incomplete in ways that parallel misleading or inaccurate textbook treatment of the concept.…

Presents activities in which students construct simple crystal radio sets and amplifiers out of diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits. Provides conceptual background, materials needed, instructions, diagrams, and classroom applications. (MDH)

Presents a simple activity designed to allow students to experimentally verify Kepler's second law, sometimes called the law of equal areas. It states that areas swept out by a planet as it orbits the Sun are equal for equal time intervals. (PR)

Presents examples of evaluation studies of visitor interactions with science museum exhibits. Example one involves application of existing findings about naive notions of motion to task of engineering a novel encounter with parabolic trajectories. Example two is a student project evaluating a prototype exhibit on light pipes and concludes that…

Describes a class activity where individual students ask the teacher "yes and no" questions to find the amount of force the bicep uses to lift a 1 kilogram mass. (PR)

Explores the changing nature of upper secondary school science subject enrollments over two decades. Discusses the fact that enrollments in chemistry, physics, and biology increased up until 1991 and declined from 1992-1995. (DDR)

Presents a theory of learning in science based on students deriving conceptual linkages among multiple models which represent physical phenomena at different levels of abstraction. Finds that high school students who were exposed to derivational links among three models for basic electricity performed better when solving both qualitative and…

Examines the extent and nature of Year 10 students' model-based reasoning in a laboratory investigation that considered the influence of six factors on electrical resistance. Finds that spontaneous use of the electron-drift model of metals in explanations increased over the duration of the task, but the explanations were restricted to mainly…

This article discusses the Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) at Stanford University, which delivers computer-based multimedia distance learning opportunities to accelerate gifted students in grades K-12 in the areas of mathematics, physics, computer programming, and expository writing. The program also offers computer-based distance…

Explains the reasons for low U.S. score results on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and compares them with students from other nations. Swedish high schools scored highest on the science test, which is attributed to their curriculum. Suggests that the majority of students are taught science that is irrelevant for their…