Today's students are increasingly immersed in a landscape of screens and handheld digital devices through which a good deal of their interactions with the world around them are mediated. Physics educators, meanwhile, continue to rely on traditional human interactions with the physical world, such as sliding down a ramp or throwing a baseball, in…

In this paper I present various equatorial sundial designs that use diffraction on a CD to display time. The designs described in the paper include a transparent CD sundial equipped with a small terrestrial globe. This sundial is compact, pedagogically useful, can be used throughout the year, and provides the user with a wealth of information.

A spin coater is widely used for thin film coating in nano/microtechnology. In this paper, a spin coater with inexpensive mechanical and electronic components was fabricated based on an open-source Arduino microcontroller. To measure and control the spin speed of the spin coater, two sensor types including two infrared (IR) light-emitting diodes…

We demonstrate that the simplicity of preparing functional microfluidic devices using 3D printing is well suited for undergraduate laboratories. Educational experiments utilizing non-paper-based microfluidic devices are often relegated to well-equipped, resource rich universities because traditional fabrication techniques require specialized and…

A pair of galvo mirrors reflecting light from a laser pointer is suggested for use as a school demonstration of Lissajous figures. The device is small, cheap and easy to assemble. Combined with a two-channel waveform generator, a full spectrum of excellently stable Lissajous figures can be generated (concerning frequency ratio, amplitude ratio and…

Demonstrations of physics phenomena via relatively simple devices and toys have been around for a long time. Because of the pedagogical value of demonstrations, this journal and other periodicals have published papers on the subject of classroom demonstrations including those related to fluid mechanics. Four new, low-cost apparatuses that…

Laboratories are an indispensable part of the fundamental sciences. Laboratories are important learning environments that enable students to relate events to daily life as well as being places where theoretical knowledge is implemented. The present study investigated the knowledge and usage level of preservice biology teachers regarding lab…

An interdisciplinary approach to science education through history of art is proposed. The approach is innovative, as the artworks complement the history, philosophy and sociology of science contents to increase students' interest and motivation. The approach integrates humanities and science education through history of art, which requests…

Educational kits can improve the teaching of experimental sciences, providing an interesting strategy to be explored at home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, chemistry kits based on a microscale design were developed encompassing safety, portability, efficacy, and low cost. They were successfully applied in regular classes…

The study of buoyancy becomes very interesting when we measure the apparent weight of the body and the liquid vessel weight. In this paper, we propose an experimental apparatus that measures both the forces mentioned before as a function of the depth that a cylinder is sunk into the water. It is done using two load cells connected to an Arduino.…

The basic physics of the flute is presented from the perspective of a professional flutist. The flutist can control loudness, pitch and to some extent timbre. Oscilloscope images are provided to compare changes in these three fundamental sound characteristics. Readers can view a video (Ruiz 2017 "Video: The Flute"…

Mass spectrometry is one of the few instrumental analysis techniques that can be relatively well-understood with physics/chemistry knowledge typical of an advanced high school or a beginning undergraduate student. This positions mass spectrometry well to be used as a bridge between abstract concepts typically set as learning goals in courses at…

This work focuses on the experimental demonstration of the hydrostatic paradox using simple tools in the form of plastic bottles and plastic syringes with a thread. For the evaluation of the results obtained the data logger Lab Quest Vernier was used. The construction of the device is presented in the first part of this paper. The second part…

In this article, the authors describe their use of simultaneous observations of the 2016 transit of Mercury made from two widely separated locations on Earth to determine the distance to the Sun in a way different from that suggested in 1715 by Halley. Using an internet link, teachers and students can make a similar derivation at the 2019 transit…

The relationship between learning and group work is often treated as self-evident, but the finer workings of this relationship require further study into the social organisation of group work. The aim of the research that forms the basis for the current article is to locate, describe, and gain new understanding of how peers organise their group…