物理教育
The paper describes a curricular framework for introducing microcontroller programming in the University Physics lab. The approach makes use of Modeling Instruction, an effective approach for teaching science at the secondary level in which…
The theorems of vector analysis (divergence theorem, etc.) are typically first applied in the undergraduate physics curriculum in the context of the electromagnetic field and the differential forms of Maxwell's equations. However, these…
This paper describes an electric circuit lab exercise that offers various ways of comparing the equivalent electrical resistance of three-resistor circuits. It requires the use of two multi-meters, a power supply, cables and connectors, an…
Teaching about energy in interdisciplinary settings that emphasize coherence among physics, chemistry, and biology leads to a more central role for chemical bond energy. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to chemical energy leads…
Sonoluminescence (SL) is the phenomenon in which acoustic energy is (partially) transformed into light. It may occur by means of many or just one bubble of gas inside a liquid medium, giving rise to the terms multi-bubble- and single-bubble…
Laboratory courses for upper-division undergraduates often involve sophisticated equipment, relatively small class sizes, and extended hands-on projects. These courses present distinct challenges and opportunities for the physics education…
End-of-course assessments play important roles in the ongoing attempt to improve instruction in physics courses. Comparison of students' performance on assessments before and after instruction gives a measure of student learning. In…
As part of a study into students' problem solving behaviors, we asked upper-division physics students to solve estimation problems in clinical interviews. We use the Resources Framework and epistemic games to describe students' problem…
When deploying online homework in physics courses, an important consideration is how many attempts should be allowed in order to solve numerical free-response problems. While on the one hand, the maximum number of attempts should be large…
Research is described on a system for web-assisted education and how it is used to deliver on-line drill questions, automatically suited to individual students. The system can store and display all of the various pieces of information used…
Almost all theories of physics have expressed physical laws by means of differential equations. One can ask: why differential equations? What is special about them? This article addresses these questions and is presented as an inquiry-based…
Item Response Theory becomes an increasingly important tool when analyzing ``Big Data'' gathered from online educational venues. However, the mechanism was originally developed in traditional exam settings, and several of its assumptions…
Physics community is generally concerned about the decrease in Physics enrollment. Due to the deficiency of specially qualified Physics teachers, high school Physics is sometimes taught by general science teachers who may not be trained to…
Student difficulties in learning Physics have been thoroughly discussed in the scientific literature. Already in 1980, Papert complained that schools teach Newtonian motion by manipulating equations rather than by manipulating the Newtonian…
We live in a digital world that, in 2010, crossed the mark of one zettabyte data. This huge amount of data processed on computers extremely fast with optimized techniques allows one to find insights in new and emerging types of data and…
Science teaching detached itself from reality and became restricted to the classrooms and textbooks with their overreliance on standardized and repetitive exercises, while students keep their own alternative conceptions. Papert, displeased…
Physics Education Research (PER) applies a scientific approach to the question, "How do our students think about and learn physics?" PER allows us to explore such intellectually engaging questions as, "What does it mean to understand…
The wave nature of heat flow mechanisms, such as lattice waves is discussed. Tan and Holland's Tangent Law of heat flow refraction is reviewed. A classroom demonstration of heat flow refraction through conductors in series is presented, and…
A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a free fall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and…
As interdisciplinary courses are developed, instructors and researchers have to grapple with questions of how students should make connections across disciplines. We explore the issue of interdisciplinary reconciliation (IDR): how students…