Equilibrium is an essential concept in undergraduate physics curriculum as it integrates Newton's laws and torque. The importance also comes from its wide applications in mechanics and biomechanics. Simulations of Back and Arms are developed mainly for the undergraduates who major in physical therapy and health sciences. They are implemented as…

This research seeks to evaluate students' intended behavioural actions in the event of a natural hazard, specifically hurricane, lightning, earthquake, or tsunami. A test instrument, measuring behavioural actions in the event of a natural hazard, and related NOS/NOT beliefs and dispositions, is utilized to collect data in Estonia, USA and Japan…

The emergence of the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) to nature of science (NOS) has prompted a fresh wave of scholarship embracing this new approach in science education. The FRA provides an ambitious and practical vision for what NOS-enriched science content should aim for and promotes evidence-based practices in science education to support…

This study delves deeply into the conceptualization of science teacher identity in secondary schools, as this identity is considered a key variable in determining the teaching of this discipline. The aim of this article is twofold: to understand the relationship among several components that conform to this identity and the use of technology for…

Scientific inquiry is widely accepted as a method of science teaching. Understanding its characteristics, called Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI), is also necessary for a whole conception of scientific inquiry. In this study NOSI aspects were taught explicitly through student inquiries in nature in two summer science camps. Students conducted…

In tabletop games involving dice, it is important to ensure randomness of the dice rolls and to protect other gaming elements from being scattered by rolling dice. One way of ensuring random rolls and protecting gaming elements is to drop dice into a dice-rolling tower ("dice tower"). A dice tower is usually small (20 cm by 20 cm) and…

Representational competence (RC) is a set of skills to reflectively use a variety of representations to draw inferences, make predictions, and support claims. Despite the important role RC plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into student ability to reason with representations, little is known about…

Science curriculum and pedagogy offer ideal avenues for teaching young people the critical thinking skills they need to live in a post-truth world. Drawing on the theory of epistemic cognition, we present a selection of research-based pedagogies that have been shown to be effective in developing school students' understanding of knowledge and how…

This article identifies historical, pedagogical and epistemological problems which distance the school science curriculum from social questions, and issues of social justice more specifically. Drawing on a critical realist approach it addresses these problems and aims to demonstrate that social justice lies at the heart of inquiry in science in…

In this paper we present a critical analysis of some of the arguments of flat Earth theory, and we also try to show that this analysis and refutation of these false claims can be a useful exercise in critical thinking that is so much needed today. This article can also make it easier for teachers who are exposed to some of the arguments of flat…

A simple throwing task is described to illustrate various aspects of projectile motion. The task was to throw a tennis ball in a waste paper bin about 2 m away. Success depends on skill, but it also depends on the physics of the problem. If the ball is thrown underarm, then success depends primarily on the throw speed, which must be controlled to…

A simple and low-cost, DIY-type, Arduino-driven experiment is presented for the study of friction and measurement of the friction coefficient, using a conductive rubber cord as a force sensor. It is proposed for high-school or college/university-level students. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile planning, designing and performing Arduino…

This work describes a simple experiment to measure the resistor temperature as a function of the applied power and proves that it is an efficient way to introduce some important physical concepts in classroom, including the Joule's first law, hot-spot temperature, thermal resistance, thermal dissipation constant, time constant and the Newton's law…

Le Châtelier's principle is used as a basis to derive an expression to calculate solution pH during titrations that involve only strong acids and strong bases. Central to this model are the reaction quotient and a re-equilibration term that represents the extent of neutralization during a titration. Unlike the method traditionally taught to…

Scientific inquiry is both theoretical and empirical. It succeeds by bringing thought into productive harmony with the observable universe, and thus, students can attain a robust understanding of the nature of science (NOS) only by developing a balanced appreciation of both these dimensions. In this article, I examine naïve empiricism, a teaching…