With recent curricular movements aimed at engaging students in science practices, more work is needed regarding evidence-based approaches for supporting students in developing competency in contexts such as chemistry. In this work, we focus on student engagement in constructing models related to graphical representations of reaction rate. Using…

Many students find it difficult to apply certain physics concepts to their daily lives. This is especially true when they perceive a principle taught in physics class as being in conflict with their experience. An important instance of this occurs when students are instructed to ignore the effect of air resistance when solving kinematics problems.…

Instead of solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs), the damped simple harmonic motion (SHM) is surveyed qualitatively from basic mechanics and quantitatively by the instrumentality of a graph of velocity against displacement. In this way, the condition b ? [square root]4mk for the occurrence of the non-oscillating critical damping and…

This simple experiment uses an unusual graph straightening exercise to confirm the parallel axis theorem for an irregular object. Along the way, it estimates experimental values for g and the moment of inertia of a tennis racket. We use Excel to find a 95% confidence interval for the true values.

A vehicle starts from rest at constant acceleration, then cruises at constant speed for a time. Next, it decelerates at a constant rate.… This and similar statements are common in elementary physics courses. Students are asked to graph the motion of the vehicle or find the velocity, acceleration, and distance traveled by the vehicle from a given…

Mobile device accelerometers are a simple and easy way for students to collect accurate and detailed data on an amusement park ride. The resulting data can be graphed to assist in the creation of force diagrams to help students explain their physical sensations while on the ride. This type of activity can help students overcome some of the…

A partially unusual behaviour was found among 14 sophomore students of civil engineering who took a pre test for a free fall laboratory session, in the context of a general mechanics course. An analysis contemplating mathematics models and physics models consistency was made. In all cases, the students presented evidence favoring a correct free…

Trypsin and soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz inhibitor) can be used in a relatively simple and inexpensive student exercise to demonstrate the usefulness of enzyme kinetics. The study of enzyme kinetics is essential to biology because enzymes play such a crucial role in the biochemical pathways of all living organisms. The data from enzyme…