One means of preventing the top of a pond from freezing involves running a circulating pump near the bottom to agitate the surface and expose it to air throughout the winter months. This phenomenon is similar to that of the flowing of streams in subzero temperatures and to the running of taps to prevent pipe bursts in winter. All of these cases…

We've all seen (in movies, newscasts, or perhaps in person) the violent effect of the downwash that occurs when a helicopter hovers over the ground. Leaves, grass, and debris are dramatically blown about. We've also sat in front of circulating room fans and felt a large draft, whereas there seems to be very little air movement behind the fan. The…

In a recent article, Iain MacInnes analyzed the static equilibrium of a system consisting of a wine bottle and a wine butler. After discussing that composite system, students can be asked to consider only the bottle (and its contents) as the system. An interesting challenge for them is to describe the forces on the bottle in static equilibrium.

As an astronomy instructor, I am always looking for commonly observed Earthly experiences to help my students and me understand and appreciate similar occurrences elsewhere in the solar system. Recently I wrote a short TPT article on frost. This paper is on the related phenomena of precipitation. Precipitation, so common on most of the Earth's…

One of the rewards of walking up the scores of steps winding around the inside of the shaft of a lighthouse is turning inward and examining the glass optical system. This arrangement of prisms, lenses, and reflectors is used to project the light from a relatively small source in a beam that can be seen far at sea.

The underlying assumption to this paper is that learners' ability to appreciate the relevance of school science and its importance to socio-economic development of their communities to a large extent depends on the quality of instruction they receive from their teachers. A popular conundrum is that no country is greater than the calibre of its…

Children's mental representations about physical concepts and phenomena play a vital role in the learning process. This is confirmed by the data derived from relevant researches which demonstrate that the students formulate incompatible ideas compared with the scientific ones. In this research we investigate the representations of 14-15 years old…

There has been much attention about improving the skills and abilities of students in Science. One critical factor is the quality of teacher education programs for preparing science teachers. There has been little research and much debate about what constitutes an effective science teacher education program. Teacher beliefs are thought to be…

Secondary school chemistry teachers' understanding of chemical equilibrium was investigated through interviews using the think-aloud technique. The interviews were conducted with twelve volunteer chemistry teachers in Hong Kong. Their teaching experience ranged from 3 to 18 years. They were asked to predict what would happen to the equilibrium…

An original study about beliefs, conceptions and discourse analyses of organic chemistry teachers is presented. We used Likert questionnaires and discourse analysis to examine conceptions of the nature of science, learning and teaching at university level. A case study of four female teachers with varying experience and teacher training was…

The purpose of this study was to find out how the scientific literacy themes are represented in the current Zambian high school chemistry syllabus, textbooks and grade twelve chemistry examination papers in an attempt to find out whether or not the chemistry course has adequate potential to contribute to the preparation of scientifically literate…

Research in science education has recognized the importance of teaching atomic structure within a history and philosophy of science perspective. The objective of this study is to evaluate general chemistry textbooks published in Turkey based on the eight criteria developed in previous research. Criteria used referred to the atomic models of…

Field experiments offer the opportunity for hands on experience with the scientific process. While this is true of a wide variety of activities, many have pitfalls both experimental and logistical that reduce the overall rate of success, in turn, influencing student learning outcomes. Relying on small, territorial, diurnal lizards and an array of…

Two commercial self-heating food products have been used to apply chemical concepts such as stoichiometry, enthalpies of reactions and solutions, and heat transfer in a classroom activity. These products are the self-heating beverages sold in Europe and the Meals, Ready to Eat or MREs used primarily by the military in the United States. The main…

Helping students take ownership of their learning is often a challenge in a large lecture course. In this article, the authors describe a nature of science-oriented group project in a chemistry course in which students gave presentations in concurrent conference sessions as well as its impact on student learning as evidenced through multiple data…