The goal of this paper is to illustrate different ways that cardsorting activities (or "card stacks") can be implemented in the introductory physics classroom, along with various tips and resources for getting started. My first attempt at developing a card stack came about from simply wanting to try out a fun way to change student…

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.

A seminal study by Chi "et al." firmly established the paradigm that novices categorize physics problems by "surface features" (e.g., "incline," "pendulum," "projectile motion," etc.), while experts use "deep structure" (e.g., "energy conservation," "Newton 2," etc.). Yet, efforts to replicate the study frequently fail, since the ability to…

We developed a web-based tool to provide students with access to old exam problems and solutions. By controlling the order in which students saw the problems, as well as their access to solutions, we obtained data about student learning by studying old exam problems. Our data suggest that in general students learn from doing old exam problems, and…

Presents questions and answers to the 1985 British Physics Olympiad (BPhO) Competition. Comments about the competition (the second year of British participation) and the winners who went to Yugoslavia (and placed second behind the USSR) are included. (JN)

The third volume of a three volume study of the development and effectiveness of a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) course in undergraduate Physics contains the CAI curriculum. It is broken up into two parts, that is the 1500 CAI course and the problem sets presented via the 1440 computer. For a background and summary of the project see volume…

Compared is the mass of a dozen eggs with the mass of air in an empty refrigerator. An answer and reasons for the answer are provided. (YP)

Test items relating to Project Physics Unit 1 are presented in this booklet, consisting of 70 multiple-choice and 20 problem-and-essay questions. Concepts of motion are examined with respect to velocities, acceleration, forces, vectors, Newton's laws, and circular motion. Suggestions are made for time consumption in answering some items. Besides…

Presents the second in a series of articles in which problems related to introductory physics courses are presented. The twenty problems deal with nearly all aspects of physics and are presented in a practical and thought-provoking manner. (RR)

Examples of the presentation and solution of variations on a common projectile trajectory problem are presented. (BB)

In order to propogate information on the World Year of Physics (WYP) and to promote students' appreciation of the significance of this event, the author devised a riddle about Einstein and implemented it at two high schools in Taiwan, with 95 students which were mainly based on Einstein's publications in 1905. During the game 81% of the students…

Eighty-seven problems are included in this volume which is arranged to match study segments 2 through 14. The subject matter is related to projectiles, simple harmonic motion, kinetic friction, multiple pulley arrangements, motion on inclined planes, circular motion, potential energy, kinetic energy, center of mass, Newton's laws, elastic and…