General education must develop in students an appreciation of the power of science, how it works, why it is an effective knowledge generation tool, and what it can deliver. Knowing what science has discovered is desirable but less important.

Late in the winter of 2010, teachers across Massachusetts received invitations to apply for six- to eight-week Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in which middle or high school teachers in STEM subjects would work alongside scientists and their graduate students as they sought to solve real-world problems. This country-wide effort was funded…

Purpose: Owing to the specialist nature of biological experimentation, scientific research staff have been largely neglected from the pro-environmental initiatives which have inundated other areas of higher education. This dearth of studies is surprising given that scientific research is recognised as a substantial contributor to the environmental…

Discusses: (1) applications of chemistry problems encountered in the forensic science laboratory; (2) chemistry and the courtroom (inspired by a Sherlock Holmes story); and (3) the 41 women who have won the Garvan award for achievement in chemistry. (JN)

An updated version of "Mr. Wizard" is returning to television three times a week on Nickelodeon, the cable network for children. Highlights the career of Don Herbert (who is Mr. Wizard) and his experiences with "Mr. Wizard" television programs. (JN)

The correct usage of such terminology as "Rayleigh scattering,""Rayleigh lines,""Raman lines," and "Tyndall scattering" is resolved during an historical excursion through the physics of light-scattering by gas molecules. (Author/JN)

Discusses how physics was done at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1930s, focusing on the faculty and their accomplishments, physics experiments, physics instruments/equipment (cyclotron and rhumbatron), and research problems and their solutions. Includes reminiscences about lectures on thermodynamics presented by Otto Stern during…

Presents a discussion for the principles of a Fourier Transform infrared spectrophotometer which is intended to provide chemists with a basic understanding of these principles. (HM)

The effects of impeller size, agitation and aeration on the rate of yeast growth were investigated using bench-top bioreactors. This exercise, carried out over a six-month period, served as an effective demonstration of the importance of different operating parameters on cell growth and provided a means of determining the optimisation conditions…

This paper attempts to promote an understanding of physics through its history and replication of the oscillation experiments of Isaac Newton and Daniel Bernoulli from the 17th and 18th centuries. The experiments described can be treated at a level of sophistication to suit the interests and capabilities of the student. Reproductions in the…

Information related to the history of optics with emphasis on the classical and medieval periods is presented. Notes are included on experiments dealing with refraction at a plane interface between two media; refraction by transparent spheres; light, color, and reflection by transparent spheres. (Author/SA)

Presented is information related to the life and work of Charles Coulomb as well as detailed notes of his measurements of the distribution of electricity on conductors. The two methods that he used (the large torsion balance, and the timing of "force" oscillations) are described. (SA)

Presents history, nature of evidence evaluated, and philosophical questions to justify the view that experiments on parity nonconservation were "crucial" experiments in the sense that they decided unambiguously and within a short period of time for the appropriate scientific community, between two or more competing theories or classes of theories.…

Presented is a discussion of the events of the 20-year lapse between the invention of the pile in 1800 by Volta, and Hans Christian Oersted's famous definitive paper "Effects of a Current of Electricity on the Magnetic Needle." Students are thus enabled to appreciate the climate of the time and the manner and significance of Oersted's…

This paper focuses on the search for electromagnetic induction from 1820 to 1831 and the efforts by Augustin Fresnel's colleague, Andre Marie Ampere, in electric and magnetic induction. Faraday's work is discussed with excerpts from his diary on electromagnetism. A variety of different experiments by researchers including Francoise Jean Arago,…