This paper aims to supplement the scant literature on the history of ideas about the nature of sound. It presents how notions about the production and propagation of sound developed from antiquity up to the 17th century, i.e. from the time of Pythagoras to the time of Sauveur. It will highlight and examine the principles of sound that were…

Categorization is a fundamental psychological ability necessary for problem solving and many other higher-level cognitive tasks. In organic chemistry, students must establish groupings of different chemical compounds in order not only to solve problems, but also to understand course content. Classic models of categorization emphasize similarity as…

The angular speed of a spinning object is commonly measured using a stroboscope or a mechanically or optically coupled tachometer. We present here an alternate, simple, and instructive method to measure it using a microphone and a computer.

It is often stated that the physical properties of our universe are "fine tuned"--that is, they must be almost exactly as they are to make the development of intelligent life possible. The implications of this statement, called the "anthropic principle," have been widely discussed in a philosophical context, but the scientific basis for the…

Increasingly widespread agreement exists that the nature of science (NOS) must be an integral element of the K-12 science curriculum with emerging consensus on what specific NOS elements should be the focus of such instruction. In this study reported, eight recent trade books written by NOS experts addressing the nature of science for the general…

A highly flexible learning tool, referred to as a dynamic reaction figure, is described. Application of these figures can (i) yield the correct chemical equation by simply following a set of menu driven directions; (ii) present the underlying "mechanism" in chemical reactions; and (iii) help to solve quantitative problems in a number of different…

Traditional curriculum for teaching bonding often fosters the use of over-simplifications and over-generalizations. Therefore, there is a need for a presentation that is consistent with current scientific knowledge and that provides the student with the proper intellectual infrastructure for further studies. In this article, we present a general…

This article describes an approach to teaching organic chemistry, which is to have students build their knowledge of organic chemistry upon a strong foundation of the fundamental concepts of the subject. Specifically, the article focuses upon a core set of concepts that I call "the six pillars of organic chemistry": electronegativity, polar…

Animations of the particulate level of matter are widely available for use in chemistry classes and are often the primary means of representing molecular behavior. These animations may also be viewed by individual students using textbook Web sites, although without reinforcement or feedback. It is not known to what extent the material in these…

In this paper, we present a multi-dimensional study concerning Heisenberg's "gamma ray microscope", a thought experiment, which is intimately connected with the historical development of quantum mechanics (QM), and also with the most disputed interpretations of quantum theory. In this study: (a) we investigate how philosophers of science read and…

A survey instrument using everyday teaching scenarios was developed to measure teacher conceptions of inquiry. Validity of the instrument was established by comparing responses for a group of secondary teachers to narrative writing and group discussion. Participating teachers used only three of the five essential features of inquiry detailed in…

Helping young children avoid developing deeply held misconceptions and promoting developmentally appropriate Nature of Science (NOS) ideas will establish a foundation for students from which they will later develop more accurate and sophisticated NOS understanding. This article delineates important NOS ideas and practical K-4 classroom teaching…

It is well known that the pitch of the sound produced by an excited glass shell can be tuned by adding some liquid in it. In this paper, it will be proved that the distribution of the liquid inside the shell plays a crucial role in this frequency shift. Thus it provides another way to tune the pitch of the sound by modifying the liquid…

The heating of tissues by diagnostic ultrasound can pose a significant hazard particularly in the imaging of the unborn child. The demonstration of the temperature field in tissue is therefore an important objective in the teaching of biomedical physics to healthcare professionals. The temperature field in a soft tissue model was made visible and…

The remarkable successes of the physical sciences have been built on highly general quantitative laws, which serve as the basis for understanding an enormous variety of specific physical systems. How far is it possible to construct universal principles in the cognitive sciences, in terms of which specific aspects of perception, memory, or decision…