The air-cushion table is a powerful instrument to demonstrate the motion of an object in the absence of friction. Such devices are often rather large and do not fit very easily in the classroom. In a different version of this experience, gas comes directly out of the disc itself, which is provided, for example, by a tank of dry ice that slowly…

Resonance effects are among the most intriguing phenomena in physics and engineering. The classical case of a mass-spring oscillator driven at its resonant frequency is one of the earliest examples that students encounter. Perhaps the most commonly depicted method of driving the vibrating system is mechanical. An alternative approach presented in…

A recent note in this journal presented a demonstration of standing waves along a cord consisting of two parts having different material densities, showing different sized wavelengths in each part. A generalization of that experiment to a continuously varying linear mass density is to vibrate a strip of material with gradually varying width (mass…

An operational understanding of Newton's third law is often elusive for students. Typical examples of this concept are given for contact forces that are closer to the students' everyday experience. While this is a good thing in general, the reaction force can sometimes be taken for granted, and the students can miss the opportunity to really think…

The logical structure of classical thermodynamics is presented in a modern, geometrical manner. The first and second law receive clear, operatively oriented statements and the Gibbs free energy extremum principle is fully discussed. Applications relevant to chemistry, such as phase transitions, dilute solutions theory and, in particular, the law…

The capillary rise/fall of a liquid within a thin capillary tube is described by the well-established Jurin's law. The liquid reaches an equilibrium height/depth as the capillary pressure is balanced by the hydrostatic pressure. When the adhesion force at the three-phase contact line is counteracted by the liquid weight, the liquid column also…

Enzyme stereospecificity and equilibrium thermodynamics can be demonstrated using the coupling of two amino acid derivatives by Thermoase C160. This protease will catalyze peptide bond formation between Z-L-AspOH and L-PheOMe to form the Aspartame precursor Z-L-Asp-L-PheOMe. Reaction completion manifests itself by precipitation of the product. As…

This article describes a simple and robust laboratory exercise on the regulation of membrane unsaturated fatty acid composition in bacteria by a decrease in growth temperature. We take advantage of the well characterized Des pathway of "Bacillus subtilis", composed of a [delta]5-desaturase (encoded by the "des" gene) and the canonical…

The production of bioethanol from cellulosic waste is described. The experiment is suitable for students in secondary school classroom settings and leads to bioethanol in a concentration high enough to burn the liquid. The experiment consists of three steps: (i) the cellulose of the waste material is converted to glucose by cellulase enzymes, (ii)…

This study has been carried out to identify the relationship between the epistemological beliefs of student teachers and their metacognitive perceptions about the nature of science. The participants of the study totaled 336 student teachers enrolled in the elementary science education division of the department of elementary education at the…

Argumentation is highlighted as one of the most important activities of science education by many researchers. The main aim of this research is to examine primary school students' nature of science classes and argumentation skills in terms of their academic success in primary science classes. Thus, the main interest of the study is centered on the…

The aim of this study is to reveal prospective teachers' perceptions of the concept of science by asking them to use metaphors to describe it. A metaphor elicitation method was employed in this study. The data obtained from the study were considered with both quantitative and qualitative (Content Analysis) analyses. The study determined the…

This article focuses on teacher professional development (TPD) in natural science through the 5E model as mediating artifact. The study was conducted in an upper secondary school, grounded in a school-based intervention research project. My contribution to the field of research on TPD is founded on the hypothesis that teachers would be best…

Increased attention to the relationships between affect and learning has led to the development of machine-learned models that are able to identify students' affective states in computerized learning environments. Data for these affect detectors have been collected from multiple modalities including physical sensors, dialogue logs, and logs of…

This self-study investigated how one teacher educator influenced his final-year pre-service teachers perceived primary science classroom learning environment. The study utilized the Nature of Science as Argumentative Questionnaire (NSAAQ) and regularly scheduled focus group interviews. These tools investigated how the learning environment the…