In a 1993 book review, E. Pearlstein asks, "Why don't textbook authors begin their discussion of magnetism by talking about magnets? That's what students have experience with." A similar question can be asked, "Why don't professors have students measure the force between permanent magnets in introductory physics labs?" The…

Science labs should promote reasoning that resembles the work that scientists do. However, this is often not the case. We present a lab in which students strive to find out which of two models best describes a physics experiment. The quantification of measurement uncertainties--another topic that is often neglected in high school…

The nature and cause of the phases of the moon are widely misunderstood. Perhaps the problem is a general decline in scientific literacy, or maybe it is the loss of direct and regular observation of the moon in society generally. Many people do not see the moon as a half-illuminated sphere. Adults are often surprised to realize that the moon can…

We describe here a low-cost experiment for introductory physics students where they compare the physical properties of aluminum and steel by means of cantilever oscillations. This, in turn, allows the students to improve their physical intuition about these materials. Further, the students can apply their physics and mathematics knowledge and…

The Next Generation Science Standards lay out a model of energy that locates energy within objects and fields, and tracks energy as it transfers between these objects and transforms between forms of energy while always being conserved. This model of energy pervades much of modern science and represents a foundational, cross-cutting concept for…

Multiple initiatives contend that all students should master computational thinking, including the "Next Generation Science Standards, the K-12 Framework for Computational Thinking," and Code.org. In turn, many physics teachers have begun to explore a variety of approaches to integrating computational modeling through programming. These…

Science is the activity of studying the natural world in various ways to construct theories and models to explain phenomena. Windschitl et al. reported that model-based inquiry includes the connection between observable aspects of the target phenomenon and conjectured underlying causal processes. In addition, they insisted that learners are…

In introductory electric circuits in middle school, students often carry strongly held alternative conceptions. Common to many of these is an idea of electric current as some kind of substance that originates from the battery and moves toward electronic components. Learners often argue that current influences those one by one as they are…

Practical hands-on experience is an effective component of science education. Lessons that involve demonstrations allow learners to explore and verify information learned from other sources (for example, reading a textbook). As a demonstration for use in a science educational setting, we developed a way to make a variable focal length lens using a…

Most springs do not simply obey Hooke's law because they are constructed to have an initial tension, which must be overcome before normal elongation occurs. This property, well known to engineers, is universally neglected in elementary physics courses. In particular, the standard simple harmonic motion experiment omits any discussion of this…

Energy is a disciplinary core idea and a cross-cutting concept in the K-12 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As numerous authors point out, the energy model in these standards emphasizes the connections between energy and systems. Using energy ideas to interpret or make sense of phenomena means…

It is common in science for two phenomena to appear to be very different, but in fact follow from the same basic principles. Here we consider such a case, the connection between the chain fountain and a bullet-block collision experiment. When an upward moving bullet strikes a wooden block resting on a horizontal table, the block will rise to a…

Two misconceptions about the mechanism of image formation in the human eye are common among students and even in textbooks and other teaching materials. The first attributes all refraction to the eye lens; the second treats the eye as a pinhole camera. To reduce these persistent conceptions of students, a series of simple experiments is presented…

There remains a strong movement for Introductory Physics for Life Sciences (IPLS) courses to better integrate physics and biology. Part of the challenge for IPLS educators is to introduce fundamental physical law while simultaneously establishing the relevance of physics to biological science. Life science relevant laboratory experiences are…

We commonly ask students to compare the results of their experimental measurements with the predictions of a simple physical model that is well understood. However, in practice, physicists must compare their experimental measurements with the predictions of several models, none of which may work well over the entire range of measurements. The…