An individual harmonic wave (i.e., having a single frequency and wavelength over all time and space) traveling in a loss-free medium has a single constant speed, which is equal to the magnitude of the phase velocity of the wave. However, when a set of different harmonic waves are traveling in the same direction, they interfere to form wave…

The well-known artificial intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT-4 has become able to process image data as input in October 2023. We investigated its performance on the test of understanding graphs in kinematics to inform the physics education community of the current potential of using ChatGPT in the education process, particularly on tasks that…

Many students who enroll in a first course in linear algebra major in STEM disciplines other than mathematics. Teachers who serve such students may find it difficult to provide authentic problems from these broader areas that ignite students' interest in linear algebra. In this paper, we highlight an interdisciplinary learning activity that…

It's not surprising that rainbows have received a great deal of attention: in textbooks, in magazines, and on the web. They are, after all, beautiful, fascinating, occasionally awe-inspiring, even a little mysterious. They are an almost perfect blend of natural beauty and simple physics. Has everything that can be said about rainbows already been…

This paper is a continuation of an earlier discussion in this journal about adhering to principles of mathematics while presenting function graphs in physics. As in the previous paper, the importance of the vertical line test was examined, this paper delves more in-depth, and it pinpoints a need for presenting graphs with a continuous rate of…

Introductory physics students often express fears regarding graphical vector addition. To ameliorate student trepidation of possibly making a mistake when moving the second vector to its new position at the head of the first vector before being added, as is most often advised by physics teachers, an alternative method is detailed here. This subtly…

Two bodies initially at different temperatures gathered into an isolated container exchange heat and reach an equilibrium state with a common final temperature. During the process, the system is out of equilibrium and its intermediate temperature is not well defined. By conceiving a quasi-static process with infinitesimal steps from the initial to…

Sound educational policy recommendations require valid estimates of causal effects, but observational studies in physics education research sometimes have loosely specified causal hypotheses. The connections between the observational data and the explicit or implicit causal conclusions are sometimes misstated. The link between the causal…

Many researches show that students have difficulties in understanding graphics in kinematics. Some authors argue that we can use different instructional strategies to reduce these difficulties. Based on these studies, we developed and applied a didactic sequence using educational robotics to teach graphic analysis in movements in a dimension with…

For several years, I taught a general education course on the Manhattan Project for students majoring in the arts and humanities who needed a physical science credit as a condition of their graduation requirements. As might be imagined, the challenge in teaching this course was to find a balance between quantitative and qualitative content. A…

In this paper, we aim to show strategies for improving graph interpretation skills at middle and high school students using OZOBOT® BIT, a small and relatively low-cost programmable robot which had been used to teach programming to young children. OZOBOT's speed can be controlled by drawing lines with colour codes, as well as through a visual…

The Gauss-Lucas Theorem is a classical complex analysis result that states the critical points of a single-variable complex polynomial lie inside the closed convex hull of the zeros of the polynomial. Although the result is well-known, it is not typically presented in a first course in complex analysis. The ease with which modern technology allows…

The study presented investigates the effects of supportive graphical interventions on the graphing skills and conceptual understanding of students in physics. In this study, the first group of participants was presented with ready-made graphs during the instruction, the second group was instructed on the proper construction and extraction of…

It is common for high school physics teachers to comment on the challenges they face in supporting students' graph drawing skills, knowing their importance for the study of physics. This paper suggests a novel and alternative way to support students to develop their graph drawing skills as well as teach them about sound, frequency, and amplitude.…

Two of the most fundamental skills that students acquire in introductory undergraduate physics laboratory courses are how to accurately plot data and interpret the physical meaning of linear graphs. We redesigned our graphing skills lab with an open-ended approach designed to promote inquiry in graphical analysis and to address specific areas of…