Hooke's law for springs, stating that the force needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance is proportional to that distance, is a topic covered by almost all introductory physics courses at both school and university levels. In this article we present a much more efficient and intuitive approach, compared to the traditional method, for…

Quantum physics is the basis for many technologies that are a fundamental part of our daily lives (e.g., lasers) or that may become so in the future (e.g., quantum cryptography and quantum computing). Because of this, quantum physics is now a central aspect of many countries' secondary school curricula. In this article, we present the design and…

This November marks another anniversary of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an example appropriate to introductory science or physical sciences courses from grade school to university. The purpose of this brief submission is to add an element to this story, which, despite having been mentioned before, has not received the prominence it…

Computational thinking" (CT) is still a relatively new term in the lexicon of learning objectives and science standards. The term was popularized in an essay by Wing, who said, "To reading, writing and arithmetic, we should add computational thinking to every child's analytical ability." Agreeing with this premise, in 2013 the…

Teachers are increasingly recognizing the need--and their power--to advocate on behalf of the teaching profession for the sake of their students and communities. National organizations like AAPT have a key role in amplifying teachers' voices. Building on the strategic vision for K-12 physics teacher professional development of the "Aspiring…

As part of the new education initiatives of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), an activity kit for teachers that includes a variety of lessons addressing acoustics for a range of students (K-12) has been created. The "Sound and Music Activity Kit" is free to K-12 teachers. It includes materials sufficient to teach a class of 30…

People find it easier to learn about topics that interest them. Recent neuroscience research has demonstrated that memory is improved when learning material about which we are curious. Therefore teaching in the context of what students are interested in should result in improved learning. How do we figure out what our students are curious about?…