Hierarchical structure and mechanics are crucial in biological systems as they allow for smaller molecules, such as proteins and sugars, to be used in the construction of large scale biological structures exhibiting properties such as structural support functionality. By exploring the fundamental principles of structure and mechanics at the…

Biological organisms function as the result of a multitude of complex physical systems all interacting with one another at different length scales and over different time scales. At stages of education below university undergraduate level, this complexity often prevents the discussion of physics within a biological context, subtly implying that…

STEM is about the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To teach STEM effectively, students need practical examples of subject integration. A good example is the use of an electron microscope in teaching physics and biology. An electron microscope is an instrument in which the operation depends on electromagnetism and…

In this paper the muscular activity will be treated from a physical point of view, considering the main physical parameters that can be quantified. A brief and simple theoretical treatment will be followed by some homeworks for students. The problems have a difficulty degree typical of an undergraduate class, and the arguments have been chosen…

The aim of the paper is the presentation of an interdisciplinary topic that allows applying content knowledge in physics, mathematics and biology in real life environment. Students use to play games and view crime scenes but in common they have little knowledge about the science used during crime scene investigation. In this paper the science…

Interdisciplinary models of teaching have been present in education systems for at least 30 years. The idea of the interdisciplinarity is to show students the contextualisation of subject knowledge, its relation to real-life problems and to build skills across traditional disciplinary boundaries. This is essential to future competitiveness since…

There is no doubt that integrated concepts inspire students and take learning to a new level. As we fly, we fly through the magnetic field of the Earth. We used the concepts involved in flying to develop an exercise that bonds geology, physics and life sciences.

Despite its relevance to all scientific domains, the debate surrounding the teaching of energy is still open. The main point remains the problems students have in understanding some aspects of the energy concept and in applying their knowledge to the comprehension of natural phenomena. In this paper, we present a research-based interdisciplinary…

Water transport in tall trees is an everyday phenomenon, seldom noticed and not completely understood even by scientists. As a topic of current research in plant physiology it has several advantages for presentation within school physics lectures: it is interdisciplinary and clearly shows the connection between physics and biology; the…

Context is important as a motivational factor for student involvement with physics. The diversity in the types and the functions of animal eyes is an excellent context in which to achieve this goal. There exists a range of subtopics in optics including pinhole, reflection, refraction, and superposition that can be discussed in the context of the…

Human walking is a complicated motion. Movement scientists have developed various research methods to study gait. This article describes how a high school student collected and analysed high quality gait data in much the same way that movement scientists do, via the recording and measurement of motions with a video analysis tool and via…

The investigation of the focusing in fish eyes, both theoretical and experimental, by using a simple fish eye model, provides an interesting biological context for teaching the introductory principles of optics. Moreover, the students will learn concepts of biology by an approach of cause and effect.

Teaching physics in the context of medicine or biology is a way to generate students' interest in physics. A more uncommon type of eye, the scallop's eye (an eye with a spherical concave mirror, which is similar to a Newtonian or Schmidt telescope) and the image-forming mechanism in this eye are described. Also, a simple eye model, which can…

Outlines procedures demonstrating that the aperture of a microscope objective limits resolving power and then, by using ancillary measurements made with a calibrated graticule in the microscope eyepiece, that the experimentally determined value for the maximum resolving power of a given objective is close to the value predicted by theory. (JN)

Discusses the atmospheric characteristics of the earth and their implications for the development of life on earth-like planets. Indicates that the chance of life developing on other planets is not as great as men might have thought. (CC)