Physics Education
An interesting physical phenomenon, which contradicts our common sense, is concerned with the dynamics of motion of a spinning ellipsoid in a non smooth surface. A hard-boiled egg spinning on a table with a rough surface is an example. In…
Novice learners find motion as a continuous process of change challenging to understand. In this paper, we present a pedagogical approach based on agent-based, visual programming to address this issue. Integrating Logo programming with…
We report on a concept inventory for special relativity: the development process, data analysis methods, and results from an introductory relativity class. The Relativity Concept Inventory tests understanding of kinematic relativistic…
We present outcomes from curricular changes made to an introductory calculus-based physics course whose audience is primarily life science majors, the majority of whom plan to pursue post-baccalaureate studies in medical and scientific…
While non-specialist teaching increasingly becomes an object of public interest, there is little data available on the actual educational background of teachers giving classes outside their specialisation. This work analyses the data…
We evaluate the electrostatic potential and the electrostatic field created by a point charge and an arbitrarly oriented electrical dipole placed near a grounded perfectly conducting sphere. Induced surface charge distributions as well as…
Teaching physics to biologists requires far more than making the course for engineers mathematically less rigorous and adding in a few superficial biological problems. What is needed is for physicists to work closely with biologists to…
The paper presents a teaching module about liquid crystals. Since liquid crystals are linked to everyday student experiences and are also a topic of a current scientific research, they are an excellent candidate of a modern topic to be…
Education is a major force for economic and social wellbeing. Despite high aspirations, education at all levels can be expensive and ineffective. Three Grand Challenges are identified: (1) enable people to learn orders of magnitude more…
The relation among instantaneous, mean and average velocities in one-dimensional motion with constant acceleration is studied. It was shown that the instant velocity evaluated in the time $t_{p}=\left(t_2+t_1\right)/2$ is similar to the…
We report a first year seminar course on nanoengineering, which provides a unique opportunity to get exposed to the bottom-up approach and novel nanotechnology applications in an informal small class setting early in the undergraduate…
Citizen science, in which volunteers work with professional scientists to conduct research, is expanding due to large online datasets. To plan projects, it is important to understand volunteers' motivations for participating. This paper…
Recent advances in our understanding of the Universe have revolutionized our view of its structure, composition and evolution. However, these new ideas have not necessarily been used to improve the teaching of introductory astronomy…
The differential cross-section for the reflection of light beams off rigid bodies obtained by the rotation of a generic derivable convex function is calculated. The calculation is developed using elementary notions of calculus and is…
Studying physics of very large scale like the solar system is difficult in real life, using telescope on clear skies over years. We are probably a world first to create four well designed gravity computer models to serve as powerful…
We discuss our outreach efforts to introduce school students to network science and explain why networks researchers should be involved in such outreach activities. We provide overviews of modules that we have designed for these efforts,…
If students are to successfully grapple with authentic, complex biological problems as scientists and citizens, they need practice solving such problems during their undergraduate years. Physics education researchers have investigated…
Physics has played a fundamental role in medicine sciences, specially in imaging diagnostic. Currently, image reconstruction techniques are already taught in Physics courses and there is a growing interest in new potential applications. The…
In this work, I point out the negative implications for diversity in graduate school resulting from the use of cutoff scores on the GRE in the admissions process. In light of the data presented, as well as a swelling body of evidence…
The papeer presents results of "non-traditional" teaching of basic course of Physics in the first year of study at the Technical University in Zvolen, specifically teaching via interactive method based on an increased focus on problem tasks…