Related papers: Enacting planets to learn physics
The vertebrate motor system employs dimensionality-reducing strategies to limit the complexity of movement coordination, for efficient motor control. But when environments are dense with hidden action-outcome contingencies, movement…
Humans inhabit a world defined by interactions -- with other humans, objects, and environments. These interactive movements not only convey our relationships with our surroundings but also demonstrate how we perceive and communicate with…
This project aims to motivate research in competitive human-robot interaction by creating a robot competitor that can challenge human users in certain scenarios such as physical exercise and games. With this goal in mind, we introduce the…
Life mechanics, an emerging field, focuses on the self-organizing forces and motions within living systems. This study introduces the novel concept of active force, generated by mind-body interactions, as an essential element in…
Much effort has been invested in recent years, both observationally and theoretically, to understand the interacting processes taking place in planetary systems consisting of a hot Jupiter orbiting its star within 10 stellar radii. Several…
Raising awareness among young people and changing their behavior and habits concerning energy usage and the environment is key to achieving a sustainable planet. The goal to address the global climate problem requires informing the…
Heliophysics is the system science of the physical connections between the Sun and the solar system. As the physics of the local cosmos, it embraces space weather and planetary habitability. The wider view of comparative heliophysics forms…
A density disturbance in a system of gravitating mass, induced by a moving selected body gives rise to a dynamical screening of Newtonian potential of this body. When applied to the solar planetary system it means that as a result of the…
Although physics has become increasingly computational, with computing even being considered the third pillar of physics, it is still not well integrated into physics education. Research suggests that integrating Computational Thinking (CT)…
Wellness and mindfulness act as buzzwords these days, often seen as separate from physics. Yet we know they are important, and everything is related to physics! In this article, we will consider a few simple classroom activities that can…
The AMACA project (Astronomy education with a Multi-sensory, Accessible, and Circular Approach) develops multi-sensory activities for accessible education and engagement in astronomy. Despite promising innovations, existing resources are…
Humans have consciousness as the ability to perceive events and objects: a mental model of the world developed from the most impoverished of visual stimuli, enabling humans to make rapid decisions and take actions. Although spatial and…
In India, as in many countries, the main focus in science classrooms is on exams rather than musing on the fascinating concepts and understanding of the world that science offers. This can mean that students lose interest in studying…
One of the objectives of the undergraduate physics curriculum is for students to become aware of the connections between formal physical principles and personal experience. However, research has shown that awareness of connections between…
This article describes some collaborative activities of the authors, aimed at improving science education in elementary schools. These include curriculum enhancement, development of new apparatus (a wind tunnel), science-education web site…
This activity has been developed as a resource for the "EU Space Awareness" educational programme. As part of the suite "Our Fragile Planet" together with the "Climate Box" it addresses aspects of weather phenomena, the Earth's climate and…
What drives exploration? Understanding intrinsic motivation is a long-standing challenge in both cognitive science and artificial intelligence; numerous objectives have been proposed and used to train agents, yet there remains a gap between…
We extend the theory of disciplinary integration of games for science education beyond the virtual world of games, and identify two key themes of a practice-based theoretical commitment to science learning: (1) materiality in the classroom…
The motion of astronomical bodies and the centre of mass of the system is not always well perceived by students. One of the struggles is the conceptual change of reference frame, which is the same that held back the acceptance of the…
This paper describes a series of activities in which students investigate and use the Ptolemaic, Copernican, and Tychonic models of planetary motion. The activities guide students through using open source software to discover important…