It is shown that the well-known Lorentz formula for time dilation can be derived from a distance-time graph plotted for a spaceship communicating with Earth.

Electromagnetic phenomena and devices such as motors are typically unfamiliar to both teachers and students. To better visualize and illustrate the abstract concepts (such as magnetic fields) underlying electricity and magnetism, we suggest that students construct and analyse the operation of a simply constructed Johnson electric motor. In this…

We examine high concentrations of poverty in public schools by comparing economic segregation in schools and in their corresponding attendance boundaries. To do this, we assign poverty rates from the 2000 census to maps of school attendance boundaries for 21 of the largest school districts and link this with data enumerating the number of poor…

Explaining that interest in law magnet programs has grown substantially in the 1990s, this bulletin analyzes these programs on the basis of information provided by 24 mostly urban magnet schools. The schools in the sample represent the spectrum of law magnet program sizes, organizational structures, and settings. The report defines a law magnet…

The New York City Board of Education has instituted magnet educational programs in five city high schools offering special curricula not ordinarily available to secondary school students in their zoned high schools. Magnet courses were designed to assist high schools in their desegregation efforts and to reduce minority group isolation. The magnet…

Magnet schools are developed according to a "center of excellence" concept that combines a basic academic program and a specialty enrichment program. Each magnet is unique and it is this uniqueness that is, ideally, able to attract students from across school boundary lines, blending economic classes and races while meeting the varied…

Derives the magnetic field as a function of position between two capacitor plates during discharge with the use of the integral form of Ampere's law and real currents only. The displacement current must be included to obtain the same result for arbitrary choices of contours. (Author/GA)

Explains magneto-optical effects and describes techniques which may be used, in conjunction with certain materials, to reveal domain structures. In addition, simple experiments are described which enable domains to be observed under various conditions of applied fields. (Author/GA)

A simple and accessible calculation is given of the effects of eddy currents for a sphere in the field of a single circular loop of alternating current. These calculations should help toward the inclusion of eddy current effects in upper undergraduate physics courses. (BB)

Historical and practical realities of the desegregation process are outlined from a legal perspective. The court remedies have not enjoyed widespread success. Magnet schools have merit, but the number of Whites attending magnet schools is usually not sufficient for true desegregation. Upgrading all Black schools may provide a solution. (VM)

Defends the exam school concept. Using Boston Tech as an example, argues that clearing the admittance-exam hurdle motivates students. Views the magnet school concept as an idealistic vision that Boston has not accepted. (LHW)

Federal court intervention to make Boston Latin School a magnet school rather than an exam school was beneficial to the life of the school. Academic elitism cannot be reconciled with the imperative to eliminate racial dualism. (LHW)

The Special Partners programs at Mill Swan Communications Skill Center Magnet School brings together 16 special needs students, aged 9-17, with fifth- and sixth-grade tutors. The program results in enhanced academic skills and in the development of mutual respect between the special needs children and their partners. (GC)

Describes a range of vocational education programs varying in scope, teaching methods, and educational philosophy that are developing throughout the country as a result of community and industry needs. (MD)

Provides a brief history of the Brooks-Hobb magnet school program (originally the Hervey magnet school) in Medford, Massachusetts, and presents excerpts of an interview with the school's current principal, Shirley Kountze. (GC)