Existing accounts of student thinking about mechanical wave propagation and superposition emphasize that students sometimes treat wave pulses as objects, saying, for example, that pulses bounce off of one another when they meet. In this paper, we present a context in which students explicitly reason about pulses as not-objects, instead describing…

Many introductory physics courses begin with the teaching of motion and kinematics. This naturally leads to the use of constant acceleration equations to solve various problems involving common motions (free fall being a notable example). Students can sometimes get the impression that these equations are the only thing they need to remember in…

There is a huge body of research supporting a positive correlation between teachers' content knowledge and better pedagogical practice. In this context, this study revealed serious gaps in a cohort of preservice physics teachers' understanding of the simple pendulum. It also pointed to their poor grasp of some fundamental concepts in physics.…

Students who do not progress to more advanced science disciplines in college generally do not realize that seemingly simple physical systems are--when studied in detail--more complex than one might imagine. This article presents one such phenomenon--the hydraulic jump--as a way to help students see the complexity behind the seemingly simple, and…

Sir Isaac Newton determined that the acceleration constant for gravity was 32 ft./per/sec/sec. This is a fact that most students become familiar with over time and through various means. This article describes how this can be demonstrated in a technology classroom using simple photographic equipment. (Contains 5 figures.)