Related papers: The path and the multi-teaching issues in the coup…
Physics increasingly uses Bayesian techniques for systematic data analysis and model-to-data comparison. This paper describes how these methods can be implemented to answer questions of relevance to teaching laboratories. It demonstrates…
The single, double, and triple pendulum has served as an illustrative experimental benchmark system for scientists to study dynamical behavior for more than four centuries. The pendulum system exhibits a wide range of interesting behaviors,…
We present three versions of a pendulum lab activity to explore how theoretical commitments, motivations, and aspirations reflect in curriculum design. In earlier work, Boudreaux & Elby (2020) discussed how different theoretical…
Experiments performed in the Physics Laboratory play a significant role in understanding the concepts taught in the theory. A good accompanying laboratory manual serves as a concise guideline which students can use to complete the…
The evaluation of variation in oscillation time period of a simple pendulum as its mass varies proves a rich source of discussion in a physics class-room, overcoming erroneous notions carried forward by students as to what constitutes a…
Science students must deal with the errors inherent to all physical measurements and be conscious of the necessity to express their as a best estimate and a range of uncertainty. Errors are routinely classified as statistical or systematic.…
The Looping pendulum phenomenon was first introduced in 2019 at the 32nd edition of the IYPT, wherein a lighter bob sweeps around a cylindrical rod to support the weight of a heavier bob. In this paper, the phenomenon was divided based on…
Framing affects how students interpret, approach, and accomplish tasks. Little is known, however, about how students frame tasks in physics labs. During the first lab of a sequence designed to teach students about modeling and critical…
The ability to construct, use, and revise models is a crucial experimental physics skill. Many existing frameworks describe modeling in science education at introductory levels. However, most have limited applicability to the context of…
Laboratory experiments provide a valuable complement to explore the fundamental physics of space plasmas without the limitations inherent to spacecraft measurements. Specifically, experiments overcome the restriction that spacecraft…
In its most general form, a `secret objective' is any inconsistency between the experimental reality and the information provided to students prior to starting work on an experiment. Students are challenged to identify the secret objectives…
For at least fifty years, the inverted pendulum has been the most popular benchmark, among others, for teaching and researches in control theory and robotics. This paper presents the key motivations for the use of that system and explains,…
The aim of this study is to investigate the decisions and reasoning of undergraduate students when choosing simple measurement instruments in an introductory physics laboratory course. For this study, we have developed a questionnaire and…
In a recent report, the American Association of Physics Teachers has developed an updated set of recommendations for curriculum of undergraduate physics labs.1 This document focuses on six major themes: constructing knowledge, modeling,…
The model we consider consists in a double pendulum set, where the pivot points are free to shift along a horizontal line. Moreover, the two pendula are coupled by means of a spring whose extremities connect two points of each pendulum, at…
The Wilberforce pendulum is a great experience for illustrating important properties of coupled oscillatory systems, such as normal modes and beat phenomena, in physics courses. A helical spring attached to a mass comprises this simple but…
The spring-mass system studied in undergraduate physics laboratories may exhibit complex dynamics due to the simultaneous action of gravitational and elastic forces in addition to air friction. In the first part of this paper, we describe a…
A central goal of Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS) is to prepare students to use physics to model and analyze biological situations, a skill of increasing importance for their future studies and careers. Here we report our…
In the course of basic physics, more precisely the course of classical mechanics should be understood as clearly as possible the subject of rotational dynamics for students of science and engineering, to have clarity with the issues…
Students in introductory calculus-based physics not only have difficulty understanding the fundamental physical concepts, they often have difficulty relating those concepts to the mathematics they have learned in math courses. This produces…