物理教育
The theme of the World Conference on Physics Education 2012 is "Context, Culture, and Representations." In this talk I present a brief outline of a theoretical framework that allows us to discuss these issues using a model based in…
Previous research has found that introductory physics students perform far better on numeric problems than on otherwise equivalent symbolic problems. This paper describes a framework to explain these differences developed by analyzing…
Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences more broadly, at Florida International University. The emergence of a research and…
Here we propose two methods to get electroluminescence images from photovoltaic cells in a school or home lab.
Since it was first published 30 years ago, Chi et al.'s seminal paper on expert and novice categorization of introductory problems led to a plethora of follow-up studies within and outside of the area of physics [Chi et al. Cognitive…
I describe how to obtain a rather good experimental determination of the eccentricity of the Earth orbit, as well as the obliquity of the Earth rotation axis, by measuring, over the course of a year, the elevation of the Sun as a function…
The performance of over 5000 students in introductory calculus-based mechanics courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology was assessed using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Results from two different curricula were compared: a…
This workshop aims to demonstrate how the Tracker Video Analysis and Modeling Tool engages, enables and empowers teachers to be learners so that we can be leaders in our teaching practice. Through this workshop, the kinematics of a falling…
This paper highlights the diverse possibilities in the rich community of educators from the Conceptual Learning of Science (CoLoS) and Open Source Physics (OSP) movement to engage, enable and empower educators and students, to create…
Data analysis is a powerful tool in all experimental sciences. Statistical methods, such as sampling theory, computer technologies necessary for handling large amounts of data, skill in analysing information contained in different types of…
Researchers have argued against deficit-based explanations of students' troubles with mathematical sense-making, pointing instead to factors such as epistemology: students' beliefs about knowledge and learning can hinder them from…
In the present paper we revisit, theoretical and experimentally, the fall of a folded U-chain and of a pile-chain. The model calculation implies the division of the whole system into two subsystems of variable mass, allowing to explore the…
This paper discusses an instructional strategy which explores eventual similarities and/or analogies between familiar problems and more sophisticated systems. In this context, the Atwood's machine problem is used to introduce students to…
This article describes an exemplary robot exercise which was conducted in a class for mechatronics students. The goal of this exercise was to engage students in scientific thinking and reasoning, activities which do not always play an…
The Photonics Explorer program aims to equip science teachers at Europe's secondary schools free-of-charge with up-to-date educational material to really engage, excite and educate students about the fascination of working with light.
Many modern theories which try to unify gravity with the Standard Model of particle physics, as e.g. string theory, propose two key modifications to the commonly known physical theories: i) the existence of additional space dimensions; ii)…
The greatest difficulty that is encountered by students in Thermodynamics classes is to find relationships between variables and solve a total differential equation that relates one thermodynamic state variable to two mutually-independent…
Although the observation of optical spectra is common practice in physics classes, students are usually limited to a passive, qualitative observation of nice colours. This article discusses a diffraction-based spectrometer that allows…
Visualising the three dimensional distribution of stars within a constellation is highly challenging for both students and educators, but when carried out in an interactive collaborative way it can create an ideal environment to explore…
In this paper we demonstrate how asymmetric molecular rotational spectra may be introduced to students both "pictorially" and with simple formulae. It is shown that the interpretation of such spectra relies heavily upon pattern recognition.…