Thomas Graham discovered the law that bears his name while studying gas diffusion into air and other gases. He also found that the same relationship held with gas effusion, the movement of gases through a pinhole into a vacuum. Modern understanding of diffusion and effusion is based on kinetic-molecular theory, and it is generally accepted that…

Adopting an explicit and reflective approach to the teaching of the history and philosophy of science is useful in promoting high school students' understanding of the nature of science. Whereas the history of science is usually signposted clearly in the school science curriculum, the philosophy of science is considered to be embedded in and…

This study aims to determine the knowledge levels in the Nature and History of Science course of the prospective teachers studying in the science education program and their views following the course. Six interview questions were asked to the pre-service teachers in the science education program about the Nature and History of Science course.…

An important step in learning to use math in science is learning to see symbolic equations not just as calculational tools, but as ways of expressing fundamental relationships among physical quantities, of coding conceptual information, and of organizing physics knowledge structures. In this paper, I propose "anchor equations" as a…

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to a plethora of information published in the media. Conceived as a socioscientific issue of great relevance currently, this article highlight the educational potential of some media news about the pandemic to reflect and learn about the nature of science (NOS). To this end, a…

It can readily be demonstrated that when a low frequency alternating voltage is applied to an iron-core coil the impedance is much higher than the direct current resistance of the coil. To understand how the high level of impedance arises it is necessary to explain how magnetic and electrical induction give rise to a current in the coil that…

A new experiment based on phase inversion of Pickering emulsions was carried out in a physical chemistry course. The emulsions were stabilized by surfactant-modified SiO[subscript 2] particles. As the concentration of surfactant increased, the emulsions changed from oil-in-water type (O/W) to water-in-oil type (W/O) type, and then reverted to be…

The Pauli exclusion principle is a key postulate of the quantum theory and informs much of what we know about matter. In terms of electronic structure, the lone, deceptively simple mathematical requirement is that the total wave function be antisymmetric with respect to the exchange of any two electrons. However, visualizing the effect on the…

In developing and modifying a course called "Intuitive Quantum Physics" for nonscience majors, several social and theoretical commitments informed our design decisions. We believed that the goal of a general education course should not be acquiring content knowledge alone, but more generally developing an approach to thinking…

Investigation of the kinetics of phosphorescence decay is a suitable learning task in studying the formal kinetics, and also properties of crystal phosphors. Kinetics of phosphorescence decay of crystal phosphors can be experimentally investigated at home as part of distance learning, using a conventional digital photo camera and a luminescent…

Although Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) and the Nature of Science (NOS) are well documented as important aspects of teaching science subjects in schools, little research has been undertaken to understand how these aspects feature in secondary school science curricula in Tanzania. Thus, this study examined the extent to which IBST and NOS…

The development of science education in many countries is varied and diverse. However, one common goal of science education in the different contexts is the focus on scientific literacy. To promote scientific literacy, the Nature of Science (NoS) is one of the vital components for raising scientifically literate citizens. In view of this, the…

An application for visualizing the dynamic properties of an equimolar binary mixture of isotropic reactive particles is presented. By introducing a user selectable choice for the activation energy, the application is useful to demonstrate qualitatively that the reaction rate depends on the above choice and on temperature. The application is based…

Scientific reasoning is a crucial ability in modern knowledge societies. An increasing body of developmental and educational research shows that already primary-school children possess emerging scientific-reasoning skills. The Science-P Reasoning Inventory (SPR-I) is a novel classroom-based paper-and-pencil instrument that was developed to measure…

Hypothesis generation is an important but difficult process for students. This study investigated the effects of providing students with support for hypothesis generation, with regard to the testability and complexity of the generated hypotheses, the quality of the subsequent inquiry learning processes and knowledge acquisition. Fifty-two…