By describing the motion of a charged particle in the well-known nonuniform field of a current-carrying long straight wire, a variety of teaching/learning opportunities are described: 1) Brief review of a standard problem; 2) Vector analysis; 3) Dimensionless variables; 4) Coupled differential equations; 5) Numerical solutions.

To familiarize first-year students with the important ingredients of a physics experiment, we offer them a project close to their daily life: measuring the effect of air resistance on a bicycle. Experiments are done with a bicycle freewheeling on a downhill slope. The data are compared with equations of motions corresponding to different models…

One of the intermediate goals of STEM education has been turning our students into problem solvers and critical thinkers who are equipped with better scientific analysis skills. In light of this initiative, it is imperative that we, the educators, modify the way we teach classic introductory physics topics, and in the long run all sciences, and…

The group work test is an assessment strategy that promotes higher-order thinking skills for solving context-rich problems. With this format, teachers are able to pose challenging, nuanced questions on a test, while providing the support weaker students need to get started and show their understanding. The test begins with a group discussion…

MAUVE (magnitude, answer, units, variables, and equations) is a framework and rubric to help students and teachers through the process of clearly solving and assessing solutions to introductory physics problems. Success in introductory physics often derives from an understanding of units, a command over dimensional analysis, and good bookkeeping.…

Consider a skier who goes down a takeoff ramp, attains a speed "V", and jumps, attempting to land as far as possible down the hill below (Fig. 1). At the moment of takeoff the angle between the skier's velocity and the horizontal is [alpha]. What is the optimal angle [alpha] that makes the jump the longest possible for the fixed magnitude of the…

This is the fourth paper in our Light-Emitting Diodes series. The series aims to create a systematic library of LED-based materials and to provide readers with the description of experiments and the pedagogical treatment that would help their students construct, test, and apply physics concepts and mathematical relations. The first paper provided…

I am a volunteer reader at the Princeton unit of "Learning Ally" (formerly "Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic") and I recently discovered that high school students are introduced to the concept of quantization well before they take chemistry and physics. For the past few months I have been reading onto computer files a…

As we typically teach in an introductory mechanics course, choosing a "good" coordinate frame with convenient axes may present a major simplification to a problem. Additionally, knowing some conserved quantities provides an extremely powerful problem-solving tool. While the former idea is typically discussed in the context of…

The following kinematics problem was given to several students as a project in conjunction with a first-semester calculus-based physics course. The students were asked to keep a journal of all their work and were encouraged to keep even their scrap paper. The goal of the project was to expose the students to the process of doing theoretical…

Newton's second law is one of the cornerstones of the introductory physics curriculum, but it can still trouble a large number of students well after its introduction, hobbling their ability to apply the concept to problem solving and to related concepts, such as momentum, circular motion, and orbits. While there are several possibilities for…

A challenge: Can you create a stable top from a single paper clip? Several interesting solutions to this problem were provided by Takao Sakai from Japan, the requirement of each being that the center of gravity be located on the vertical y-axis at the center of the top. In the simplest configuration, we see that there exists a single angle ?…

Instructors of physics courses face the demanding challenge of creating a safe, nurturing community in their classroom while maintaining sufficient rigor. First-day activities are especially important, because they need to both motivate their students and prepare them for the course. Experienced instructors happily share their successful first-day…

Integers are sometimes used in physics problems to simplify the mathematics so the arithmetic does not distract students from the physics concepts. This is particularly important in exams where students should not have to spend a lot of time using their calculators. Common uses of integers in physics problems include integer solutions to…

Halfway through the 2015 AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, game officials discovered that the Patriots were using underinflated footballs on their offensive snaps. A controversy ensued because the Patriots had actually supplied these balls to the game's referee just hours before kickoff. Athletes and…