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Presents a procedure for calculating the compass direction and velocity of present plate motions at any geographical point of interest. Includes a table of the relative and geographic motion of the 11 largest plates and a flow chart for determining their present motion. Also offers suggestions for classroom instruction. (ML)

The National Science Education Standards (NSES) emphasize the use of models in science instruction by making it one of the five unifying concepts of science, applicable to all grade levels. The NSES recommend that models be a focus of instruction--helping students understand the use of evidence in science, make and test predictions, use logic, and…

A simple teaching model, designed to show rapidly which are the principal factors in population growth and how they are related, is presented. The apparatus described allows students to play several different active roles. (MP)

Discusses a misconception about the cycloid that asserts the final point on the path of shortest time in the "Brachistochrone" problem is at the lowest point on the cycloid. Uses a BASIC program for Newton's method to determine the correct least-time cycloid. (MDH)

Presents a mathematical model that will help students explore concepts related to population growth such as doubling time, replacement level and zero population growth. (Auth/WB)

Addresses the problem that students balk at the notion velocities do not add algebraically. Offers a geometric model to verify the algebraic formulas that calculate velocity addition. Representations include Galilean relativity, Einstein's composition of velocities, and the inverse velocity transformation. (MDH)

Uses chaos theory to investigate the nonlinear phenomenon of population growth fluctuation. Illustrates the use of computers and computer programs to make calculations in a nonlinear difference equation system. (MDH)

Described is a graduate level engineering course on functional analysis offered at Purdue University. The course restricts itself to linear problems, specifically analysis of linear operators on vector spaces. Key applications in the course demonstrating the utility of abstract formulations are presented. (BT)

Presents a motion problem that students in a college physics class are asked to solve and later asked to continue to analyze until they have stopped learning from the problem or the problem itself is finished. (MDH)

Criticizes the current method of formalization in Italian schools and the use of tools of the mathematical method. Proposes a general three-stage formalization method which can used for physical quantities, the particular significance of certain quantities, and the description and interpretation of phenomena. (TW)

Discusses the use of ratio diagrams, which plot the calculations of equilibrium concentrations of the species of the carbonate system. Provides examples to describe how these diagrams can be used to illustrate the behavior systems of interest in volumetric analysis, where absorption or loss of carbon dioxide takes place. (TW)

Discusses the classification of binary oxides as acidic, basic, or amphoteric. Demonstrates how a numerical scale for acidity/basicity of binary oxides can be constructed using thermochemical data for oxoacid salts. Presents the calculations derived from the data that provide the numeric scale values. (TW)

Presents a device to illustrate the concepts of entropy of mixing and the contribution of one term in the Gibb's equation. Notes the device is relatively easy to construct and provides a visual demonstration on diffusion. (MVL)

Presents a simple mathematical model in which resultant speed is the sum or difference between wind speed and runner speed and a more complex model that assumes that only a proportion of the wind's speed affects one's running speed to describe the time difference between running with and without wind. (MDH)