In an article in this journal, it was shown that air resistance could never be a significant source of error in typical free-fall experiments in introductory physics laboratories. Since projectile motion is the two-dimensional version of the free-fall experiment and usually follows the former experiment in such laboratories, it seemed natural to…

The study aims to determine the subject matter knowledge of Prospective Primary School Teachers (PPSTs) and analyze their chemical representation levels on crystallization. The study was carried out with descriptive research with a qualitative approach based on this purpose. The study participants were eighty freshman students studying at the…

Why do we need to pour less water in an egg steamer to prepare more eggs to the same degree of 'doneness'? We discuss the physical processes at work in the electric egg steamer and resolve this seeming paradox. We demonstrate that the main heat transfer mechanism from steam to egg is due to latent heat through condensation. This not only explains…

Elemental analysis is performed in a variety of ways in food and environmental sciences; thus, we have designed an activity in which students gain experience with research-level lab techniques in a real-world context through the quantification of key elements in breakfast cereals using microwave plasma optical emission spectroscopy (MP-OES). The…

The Chain Experiment competition has been held successfully for 6 years in Poland and is attracting growing interest. The competition provides participants with a task that involves designing and constructing a contraption that is an element in a chain of events that are based on various physical phenomena. The contraptions are then linked…

During the August 21, 2017, solar eclipse, high school students measured secondary cosmic ray flux using QuarkNet detectors. These students conducted experiments examining cosmic ray flux, shower, speed of muons, and muon lifetime using QuarkNet cosmic ray muon detectors (CRMDs). These detectors measure muon flux of momenta greater than ~2 GeV, a…

In the 1930s, the teaching staff of the University of Chicago devised a clever way to deliver experimental data to their introductory students without meeting them in the laboratory. The university's curriculum included a required Introductory Course in the Physical Sciences. There were probably too many students to allow for a standard…

An absorption line at 900 nm has been observed in Perspex. Samples of 1 and 2 cm thickness were used and the integrated absorption (line width times peak absorption) of the line was proportionate to the thickness. Facilities for lowering the sample temperature were not available and therefore both measurements were carried out at room temperature.…

Citizen science has gained importance in recent years and revealed great potential, especially regarding science learning and environmental education. However, little is known about ways of supporting individual learning processes within citizen science. With this in mind, a home experiment set, the Nitrogen Box, was developed within a chemistry…

It is a challenge to carry out science lessons with experiments both in the conditions that emerged with the COVID-19 pandemic and in schools where there is a shortage of laboratories and materials. This study aims to examine the proficiency and opinions of pre-service primary teachers (PPTs) pertaining to performing hands-on science experiments…

In this work, we present an experimental approximation to the study of the phenomenon of radioactivity in secondary schools, taking as an analogy the process of release of carbon dioxide in a carbonated beverage. In this way, we intend to facilitate the approach to the mathematical formalism and to the graphical description of this phenomenon, as…

Raman scattering is a powerful tool for revealing the vibrations of molecules, but as a nonlinear optical phenomenon, its signals can change via mechanisms like resonance enhancement that have no direct analogue in infrared spectroscopy. In this work, complementary measurements conducted on 4-nitrophenol and its conjugate base allow students to…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators have been required to offer their courses online. A particular challenge is the implementation of practical laboratory experiments in the field of materials science. The central questions are the following: How can students carry out laboratory experiments at home? How are applications on mobile devices…

Abrupt disruptions to academia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, have brought unprecedented challenges in teaching, yet it has brought many lessons, driving the development of strategies in response to the crisis. The general chemistry laboratory course is often considered difficult to teach, due to students' heterogeneous chemistry…

As the need for online or virtual science courses grows, it is important to incorporate laboratory work into these courses. However, it is difficult to find cost-effective ways to integrate the laboratory work, especially as campuses across the world have had to quickly transition to the online learning environment in the midst of the COVID-19…