In this experiment, physical science students measured the mass of several soda cans, measured the mass and volume of water displaced when these cans were placed in water, and determined whether these cans sank or floated in water. Then, the students plotted graphs of the mass of displaced water versus the volume of displaced water, the mass of…

This article presents a problem that can help high school students develop the concept of instantaneous velocity and connect it with the slope of a tangent line to the graph of position versus time. It also gives a method for determining the tangent line to the graph of a polynomial function at any point without using calculus. (Contains 1 figure.)

This article is intended to model the ascent of the space shuttle for high school teachers and students. It provides a background for a sufficiently comprehensive description of the physics (kinematics and dynamics) of the March 16, 2009, "Discovery" launch. Our data are based on a comprehensive spreadsheet kindly sent to us by Bill Harwood, the…

The Sun's gravitational influence is of course much greater than that of any of the planets. Just how much greater can be dramatically illustrated by plotting their combined gravitational potential on the same graph.

In this age of the microcomputer-based lab (MBL), students are quite accustomed to looking at graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration versus time. A number of textbooks argue convincingly that the slope of the velocity graph gives the acceleration, the area under the velocity graph yields the displacement, and the area under the…

Inexpensive video analysis technology now enables students to make precise measurements of an object's position at incremental times during its motion. Such capability now allows users to "examine", rather than simply "assume", energy conservation in a variety of situations commonly discussed in introductory physics courses. This article describes…

Coach is an activity-based, open computer environment for learning and doing mathematics, science, and technology in an inquiry approach, developed in the last twenty-five years at the AMSTEL Institute of the University of Amsterdam. It offers a versatile set of integrated tools for data collection, data analysis, modelling and simulation, and for…

In an English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) class, special emphasis is often put on interaction and negotiation as a means of learning and understanding the language being taught (Long, 1981; Pica, 1994). However, student-student interaction as well as student-teacher interaction could be difficult to achieve in…

In this paper we derive an expression for the dynamic electric polarizability of a particle bound by a double delta potential for frequencies below and above the absolute value of the particle's ground state energy. The derived expression will be used to study some of the fundamental features of the system and its representation of real systems.…

Imagine trying to paint a picture with three colors--say red, blue, and yellow--with a blue region between any red and yellow regions, a red region between any blue and yellow regions, and a yellow region between any red and blue regions, down to infinitely fine details. Regions arranged in this way satisfy what is called the Wada property. At…

The Doppler shift is a frequency change of a repetitive effect, as measured by a receiver, due to the motion of the wave emitter, to the motion of the wave receiver, or both. A demonstration of the effect is provided by the sound of a car's horn that changes from a higher pitch to a lower pitch when a car drives past. Most derivations of the…

This note considers a family of piece-wise linear functions that can be used in the classroom to illustrate various concepts involved in iteration theory such as periodicity. These functions require minimal background on the part of the student. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper describes a teaching method that allows for the fast and early detection of students' conceptions, misconceptions and their development. The empirical study of two examples where the method was applied is reported. The prerequisites for the efficient use of the method are discussed and results of the pilot study of its effectiveness are…

As part of the "Car Lab Project," students constructed rubber band cars, raced them, and worked through a number of automotive activities. The students engaged in this project certainly had fun, but they also used high-tech gear such as motion sensors and graphing calculators to gather data on the distance and time cars traveled and to generate…

Graphing is a key skill in the study of Physics. Drawing and interpreting graphs play a key role in the understanding of science, while the lack of these has proved to be a handicap and a limiting factor in the learning of scientific concepts. It has been observed that despite the amount of previous graph-working experience, students of all ages…