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Copyright of Revista de Orientación Educacional is the property of Universidad de Playa Ancha de Ciencias de la Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin-American Journal of Physics Education is the property of Latin-American Physics Education Network and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin-American Journal of Physics Education is the property of Latin-American Physics Education Network and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we describe and discuss an information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention designed to improve secondary school students' revision (in contrast to learning) of physics concepts. We show that students' engagement in joint activities via our ICT-based intervention can provide them (and their teachers) with insights into their knowledge base and thought processes, thereby aiding a remedial process we call prescriptive tutoring. Utilising a design-based research methodology, our intervention is currently being implemented and evaluated in a public secondary school in Singapore. Statistical analysis of pre- and post-intervention test scores from the first iteration of our design experiment show that students in the experimental group significantly out-performed students in both the control and alternate intervention groups. In addition, qualitative data obtained from the students from a focus group session, individual interviews and responses to our survey questions reveal that they became more comfortable with the intervention only after they appreciated how the intervention was designed to help them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report in this paper context an analysis of Physics classes in a Public School. We elaborated a thematic unit in a technological and interdisciplinary view, which was studied by first and third grades High School students. The research focus was identifying factors that can bear on learning, on positive or negative way. We elaborated a methodological tool to analyze the context, called Episode Maps. Through these maps we investigated context on three perspectives: involvement, learning of contents and interaction with the unit. The results of this analysis guided other purposes on different investigations. They were also used for triangulations and posterior interpretations of the general research results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic forces responsible for the movement of the read/write arm of a computer hard drive (HD) are explored from elementary concepts of electromagnetism, found in the curricula of the third year of Physics in High School. It is described the manufacturing of a simple apparatus for visualization and study of magnetic forces involved; the dismantling of the HD and the location of the magnet and the read/write arm are described. Finally, the arm movement is explained in the basis of the concepts investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation in secondary physics has been shown to be limited for underrepresented students in urban school districts. This study explores an alternative means for providing physics access for city youth through the use of a university-based Saturday enrichment program for eighth grade Latino students. During a three-week unit on Newton's laws, students engaged in inquiry-based lessons that featured hands-on tasks, probeware with handheld sensing devices, computer simulations, iPod Touch applications, and multiple representations of mechanics concepts. Students were tested pre- and post- with a modified Force Concept Inventory. Results indicated significant gains in student understanding of Newton's laws. Implications for physics teaching and learning in urban middle schools and informal science settings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to discuss the role of Scientific Imagination in Physics Teaching. Accordingly, we start from an epistemological reflection in order to characterize the imaginative process in scientific activity. This was done through a study of contemporary philosophical references and a historical analysis on Albert Einstein's concepts. The epistemological analysis draws to a close with the elaboration of three steps that characterize the imaginative process in Science and include analysis categories for the study of imagination in the classroom. In the second part of the study, we demonstrate that the process of thought, defined by theoretical references, is expressed by the impressions of High School students during a teaching activity on Rutherford's experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school physics curricula are designed to meet a number of goals, all of which compete for classroom and homework time. The process-oriented goals include the development of skills in problem solving, measurement, analyzing data, and research, particularly in this world of internet based, unfiltered information. Content goals, on the other hand, insist on mastery or, at least, exposure to kinematics, dynamics, geometrical and physical optics, fluid dynamics, electric and magnetic fields, circuits, electromagnetism, nuclear physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Infusing history and nature of science topics into this already packed agenda is a challenge for even the most gifted of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of Contemporary and Modern Physics in High School is an important proposal for a large number of scientific education researchers. In the past years, various papers discussed and presented results about the introduction of Contemporary and Modern Physics in Science classes. This paper discuss these subjects and propose an historical-philosophical approach for the study of the Special Theory of Relativity, so this way students could understand questions about these subjects which bring different reflections from the common sense students have learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a lesson plan for projectile motion for high school physics.

Considering the difficulties in learning termology concepts in the Public High Schools of Manaus (Brazil), this study's purpose is to show diagnostic experiences with the intent of minimize those learning difficulties and improve the teaching-learning process through the elaboration of physical models. Termology concepts are taught frequently in a way in which the relationship between cause and effect of the termal phenomena are not pointed out, presumably because they are based on different perspectives. Thus, it is necessary a conceptual and dialectical review of the different perspectives, given that they complement each other and are necessary for meaningful learning. We hypothesize that termology concepts are understood by the students in a superficial way, without scientific criteria of natural causes, and supported by their first experience of the senses, that is, by common sense. The methodological proposal is based on the use of physical models that incorporate alternative materials. In this way, we are looking to expose the fragility of using the senses as a way to understand termology concepts by showing their contribution in the process of assimilation; using the principles of logic and rationality; and providing favorable conditions for the manifestation of intuitive heuristics and creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of coupled oscillations is rich in physical content which is both interesting and complex. The study of the time evolution of coupled oscillator systems involves a mathematical formalization beyond the level of the upper secondary school student's competence. Here, we present an original approach, suitable even for secondary students, to investigate a coupled pendulum system through a series of carefully designed hands-on and minds-on modelling activities. We give a detailed description of these activities and of the strategy developed to promote both the understanding of this complex system and a sound epistemological framework. Students are actively engaged (1) in system exploration; (2) in simple model building and its implementation with an Excel spreadsheet; and (3) in comparing the measurements of the system behaviour with predictions from the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines secondary students' design of experiments after engagement in an innovative and inquiry-oriented module on heat transfer. The module consists of an integration of hands-on experiments, simulated experiments and microscopic model simulations, includes a structured series of guided investigative tasks and was implemented for a sample of 24 lower secondary (compulsory education) school students in Greece. A post-instructional assessment comprising written tests and interviews of the sample of students was employed. The findings revealed that after implementation of the module, a respectable number of the students showed ability in experiment design skills such as forming hypotheses and successfully describing experimental procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on the development and application of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test (or three-tier test) on the nature and propagation of waves. A question in a three-tier test comprises the content tier, which measures content knowledge; the reason tier, which measures explanatory knowledge; and the confidence tier, which measures the strength of conceptual understanding of the respondents. This paper presents results based on the responses of 243 Grade 10 students after they were formally instructed on the topic. The vast majority of the respondents showed an inadequate grasp of concepts about waves. Eleven alternative conceptions (ACs), which were expressed with confidence by more than 10% of the students, were identified; four of these ACs were expressed with high confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of a stroboscope from slots to be used in the measuring of everyday devices frequency is described in this paper. Examples of this assess are: blinking frequency of different devices such as television sets, fluorescent electric light, low-energy lamps or rotation frequency from mechanical devices with steady circular movements such as ventilators, circular chainsaws, etc. Apart from facilitating the learning of different aspects closely related to regular movements, the main teaching objective of this research is to combine technical-scientific contents with issues connected to the students. This provides an additional motivation to the scientific research reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current research is to characterize the conceptual flow processes occurring in whole-class dialogic discussions with a high level of interanimation; in the present case, of a high-school class learning about image creation on plane mirrors. Using detailed chains of interaction and conceptual flow discourse maps--both developed for the purpose of this research--the classroom discourse, audio-taped and transcribed verbatim, was analyzed and three discussion structures were revealed: accumulation around budding foci concepts, zigzag between foci concepts, and concept tower. These structures as well as two additional factors, suggest the Two-Space Model of the whole class discussion proposed in the present article. The two additional factors are: (1) the teacher intervention; and (2) the conceptual barriers observed among the students, namely, materialistic thinking, and the tendency to attribute “unique characteristics” to optical devices. This model might help teachers to prepare and conduct efficient whole-class discussions which accord with the social constructivist perspective of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies were conducted to explore the connection between science texts features and students' ratings of the interest level of the texts. In both studies, students from the 8th--10th grade completed a knowledge test prior to reading, studied the texts, and rated the texts in terms of interest. In the first study, 124 students each worked with 48 popular scientific texts in biology. In the second study, 400 students worked with 40 texts from physics textbooks. The students indicated higher interest in texts with fewer abstract words and scientific terms, shorter sentences and words and a lower repeating rate for nouns. Frequent words in spoken language were related to lower interest in textbooks, but higher interest in popular scientific texts. This difference in the results may be attributed to the higher prior knowledge of textbooks (26%) compared to their knowledge of popular scientific texts (6%). Implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to motivate students and make classes more attractive, a surprising and engaging experience, which can address both physical and chemical aspects, is presented. It involves the reaction in a sealed flask of a small amount of copper with nitric acid (HNO3), releasing heat and a reddish brown gas. The gas flows through a glass tubing into a beaker containing water, where it bubbles and dissolves. After cooling with ice the reaction flask, it happens a sudden drop in pressure and water flows inside through the glass tubing by a siphon effect, making a blue solution. The series of colours and the movement of gas and water will cause a visual impact that undoubtedly will impress students and help to foster interest in Science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work we are communicating is a didactic proposal for teaching and learning energy with students of secondary education. This proposal is deeply influenced by two fundamental axis, namely, the disciplinary axis, Physics, and the axis of negotiation of meanings; being the argumentation the type of mediating speech in this process. In relation to the first one, a study about energy conservation, transformation and degradation is proposed. Regarding the second axis, we propose a style of activities in class based on a conception of the teaching-learning process as a continuum of meanings that are negotiated among the subjects, mediated by the action of the professor. In this way, the emergency of the co-evaluation, understood as the instance that grants the possibility of revising individual products by debate with other members of the class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report an inquiry on the development of students' understanding about the nature of light. The study happened in a learning environment with a recursive and spiral Physics syllabus. We investigated the change in students' understanding about the nature of light during their 3rd year in High School, and the level of understanding about this subject achieved by students at the end of this year. To assess the students' understanding, we developed an open questionnaire form and a set of hierarchical categories, consisting of five different models about the nature of light. The questionnaire was used to access the students' understanding at the beginning and at the end of the third level of the recursive curriculum. The results showed that students have a high level of prior knowledge, and also that the Physics learning they experienced had enhanced their understanding, despite the effects are not verified in all the Physics classes. By the end of the third year, most of the students explain the nature of light using or a corpuscular electromagnetic model or a dual electromagnetic model, but some students use these models with inconsistencies in their explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effects of teacher-directed and self-directed problem-solving strategies on students' attitudes toward physics were explored. Problem-solving strategies were used with the experimental group, while the control group was instructed using traditional teaching methods. The study was conducted with 270 students at various high schools in Turkey. Data obtained from the sample was analyzed using a one-way ANOVA analysis. The findings indicated that students in the experimental group made more positive improvement in attitude towards physics than the control group. Thus, teachers may integrate problem based strategies in their teaching practice and let their students increase their positive attitude toward physics. As a result of this increase, students could have better success in physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article presents a didactic proposal oriented to teaching notions of semiconductor physics in secondary education. The methods and the results of a pilot study designed to analyse the effectiveness of a teaching sequence on the topic are also described. The subjects were 60 students, aged 14-15 years, of a secondary school in Seville, Spain. The levels of knowledge acquired by the students were evaluated by means of a test and personal interviews, which we also used to detect the most frequent obstacles they encountered against learning. Also, we employed personal interviews and analysis of the students' notebooks to evaluate their attitudes towards semiconductor physics and its learning, and to evaluate the degree to which the teaching sequence fosters cooperative learning and the self-regulation of learning. The results indicated that the students in general acquired ideas and reasoning in the appropriate line, although with some mistakes or inaccuracies with respect to scientific conceptions, and acquired positive attitudes towards the learning of semiconductor physics, with a high degree of motivation during the teaching-learning process. The conclusion is that it is possible to initiate teaching the basic notions of semiconductor physics in secondary education, although it is necessary to continue going deeper into the topic with new research. As a proposal for improvement in future actions, we formulate new objectives oriented at overcoming the students' commonest obstacles against learning with respect to the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school physics is a gateway course for post-secondary study in science, and an essential component in the formation of students' scientific literacy. The opportunity to study physics is not universally available for children in U.S. schools, particularly in urban areas. Restricted science opportunities result in inequitable participation and a barrier to future participation in STEM-related fields. Although the national trend in physics enrollment has recently shown an increase, the percentage of participation is much lower for students in urban schools. We examined the availability of physics in New York City, and whether access was related to academic achievement measures, such as prior science performance, and graduation and college attendance percentages. High schools that offered physics were compared to those that did not, and patterns in types of available physics courses were examined. The findings substantiate the compelling need to explore the barriers to increased physics access and participation for urban youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an educational experience with students of Secondary Education, which used the recording, edition and diffusion of digital-video Physics and Chemistry laboratory experiences, as a tool of the process of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the confusing concepts in momentum and kinetic energy which are being taught in secondary school physics in Great Britain. It cites the difference in how these two scientific concepts are presented in standard textbooks and what is taught in schools. Results of the inspection of books used in the study showed that most of them provide examples for momentum in simple friction-free situations. Based on previous research, the authors claim that students are not convinced about the difference between the two concepts.

Copyright of Dicle University Journal of Ziya Gokalp Education Faculty / Dicle Üniversitesi Ziya Gökalp Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Dicle University Journal of Ziya Gokalp Education Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article describes an activity program for a high school physics class using the story "FloJo: The World's Fastest Woman," which asks students to study physics and kinetics while designing and also running their own races.

The article describes an activity program for high school science on the head-to-tail method of combining vectors and the difference between distance and displacement using a football field, scissors, envelopes, and metersticks.

Project work is the primary method which enables practicing the activities that contemporary learning theories suggest. The aim of this study is to determine the issues encountered during project work in accordance with students' and teachers' views in secondary schools physics courses in the city of Trabzon, Turkey where project work has been executed. Case study strategies were adapted using semi-structured interview protocols with five teachers and five students in three different secondary schools. Findings revealed that students who designed their own projects lacked fundamental and experimental process skills such as "deciding on the project topic", "observation", "measuring and using the numbers", "drawing conclusion" and "organizing and writing a report". Issues such as time, availability of materials required in the project and consultancy needed have an effect on the process of project-based work. This study also indicated that students have not acquired the skills and knowledge of doing project-based work during their elementary education. Finally, the study illustrated that issues such as teacher pre-service and/or in-service training, cooperation among schools, university and other parts and support from local and national level are not enough to use project-based work in secondary schools, and thus it only depends on the school and teachers to utilize this mode of teaching of physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo presenta un experimento de física para ayudar a estudiantes secundarios a comprender el índice de refracción de diversos materiales y la ley de Snell. Se citan los fundamentos teóricos, se describen los materiales y procedimientos utilizados y se describen los resultados.

El artículo presenta un experimento de física para ayudar a estudiantes de escuela secundaria a comprender la relación entre la velocidad de un vehículo y la distancia de frenado. Se citan los fundamentos científicos, se describen los materiales utilizados y se explica su aplicabilidad a la problemática real de los accidentes viales.

In different ways have invented interesting procedures for measuring the radius of the earth. Here one is exposed to the use of many formal or informal techniques. This procedure is simple enough so that any amateur can repeat it. This is not a new method, but it can be seen how slight variations of it might give less or more errors. The method requires three stones, a rope and a rule. In accordance with the instructions, it must also have a hill from where we can see the horizon from a site cleared in two opposite directions. The ideal height of this hill or promontory is 30 to 300 meters above sea level (easily could be from a building). The main motivation is to provide a framework for students in the classroom to discuss the possibility of measuring the size of the earth with very simple arguments, accessible to everyone. It stimulates project formulation for research in the classroom. Also under consideration, in line with the education reforms and the globalization of science and knowledge, these activities can accommodate different disciplines for a discussion of optimal results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a secondary analysis of data from the 1995 administration of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The purpose is to compare the breadth, depth, and recurrence of the typical physics curriculum in the United States with the typical curricula in different countries and to determine whether there are associations between these three curricular constructs and physics achievement. The first data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and standardized scores) for each of the three curricular variables. This analysis was used to compare the curricular profile in physics of the United States with the profiles of the other countries in the sample. The second data analysis consisted of correlations relating the three curricular variables with achievement. The results show that the U.S. curriculum has low breadth, low depth, and high recurrence. The U.S. curricular profile was also unique when compared with the profiles of the other countries in the sample. The only statistically significant correlation is between achievement and depth. Depth of curriculum is the only curricular variable that is closely related to physics achievement, so the U.S. physics curriculum should add depth. It is also possible that the entire U.S. profile needs to be changed. Further study is needed in this area including more research that is empirical, studies that cover the entire curriculum rather than just single courses or disciplines, and studies comparing curricula within the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cagdas Egitim Dergisi is the property of Cagdas Egitim Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article focuses on a study which examined secondary school in New York City to identify factors related to physics availability. The availability of physics is strongly influenced by school size. The most common physics course taken by students is Regents Physics which reflected the overall percentage of students taking physics. In determining the likelihood that students had access to advanced physics in New York City, both race and socioeconomic status are inherent factors.

We analyse the implementation of a new New Zealand physics curriculum from a socio-cultural perspective. We explore the development of the curriculum document and examine the obstacles to its implementation. Change was compromised by the lack of any intersubjective linkage between teachers and the curriculum designers. The teachers' own community of practice was most influential in how implementation occurred. Curriculum change processes and discourses must be made transparent so that teachers can have a framework for 'dereification' of a curriculum document into their classroom practices. Without planning for teachers' participation in the negotiation of curriculum meanings, curriculum developers themselves become marginalized, and the cultural objects they have developed will be adopted in unanticipated ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the collaborative effort between Fort Hays State University and Emporia State University in Kansas that resulted in the development of a unique professional development institute which aims to provide workshops for middle school science teachers in rural areas. The institute was managed concurrently at the two universities and coordinated through distance-education technologies. Workshops offered by the institute mainly focus on preparing teachers how to implement a modeling, pedagogical approach to improve the teaching and learning of high school physics.

It is recognized widely that learning is a dynamic and idiosyncratic process of construction and reconstruction of concepts in response to new experiences. It is influenced by the learner's prior knowledge, motivation, and sociocultural context. This study investigated how year 11 and 12 physics students' metacognition influences the development of their conceptual understandings of kinematics. An interpretive case study approach was used to investigate students working in collaborative groups in the context of an amusement park physics program. The metacognitive character of individual learners was demonstrated to have a strong influence on their conceptual development. Moreover, the metacognitive character of individuals within the small group contexts investigated was a key factor influencing the groups' collective knowledge development. A coyote–rabbit metaphor was developed to interpret the resilience and weaknesses of individual and group knowledge construction processes, and elucidates new theoretical understandings regarding metacognition and its influence on knowledge construction. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed91:298–320, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When you pull and unwind a toilet roll, it rolls away from you, whatever angle the force is applied. But what happens when you pull on a spool with a smaller internal diameter than the outside? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A standing wave can be set up in a stretched rope, chain or elastic, but how will the wavelength vary in different materials? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research provides an overview of the difficulties encountered by subjects when they freely explored the logico-mathematical underpinnings of problem situations in mechanical physics as programmed onto a computer. Twenty secondary school subjects were interviewed within the framework of structured (directed) interviews. This type of clinical interview is intended to elicit verbalizations that describe what bases or references the subjects draw on when tackling the problem at hand. In particular, these descriptions reveal the intuitions brought into play by the subjects as they construct models. Our study concentrated on proportional and inversely proportional relationships established by subjects during their explorations. Our findings indicate that while establishing correct proportional relationships between certain variables is intuitively simple for most subjects, the same is not true for inversely proportional relationships. Our research has also served to bring out the potential value of theoretical frameworks involving "intuitive rules" for studying how conceptions in science develop and unfold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Johannes Kepler was both a medieval mystic and a modern mathematical scientist. He made significant contributions to our understanding of the solar system and to the nature of science itself. This article reviews existing teaching methods. It also suggests new ways of using Kepler's life and work in the teaching of 'ideas and evidence' in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on inquiry-oriented teaching strategies. Increasing orientation of teaching strategies toward guiding students' knowledge construction through cooperative learning; Inquiry unit on gas laws suitable for high school chemistry or physics; Focus on the explanation phase of the cycle where students begin 'making sense of the data.'

The article reviews the research studies related to high school physics. One researcher conducted approximately 150 student interviews to investigate the value students attached to the laboratory activities while studying physics using the learning cycle curriculum construction and various teaching procedures. Another study examined the effect of a tree diagram of coordinate definitions upon a defined concept learning task. A study by another researcher analyzed relations between the content and method of instruction and the content and method of testing to isolate factors affecting the transfer of knowledge from a textbook to students enrolled in two high school college preparatory physics classes and one career exploratory physics class. The studies indicates that different instructional procedures and different instructional materials usually result in different learning.

The article reports on the proceedings of the 2013 Physics World Cup, also known as the International Young Physicists' Tournament, hosted in Taipei, Taiwan in July at the National Taiwan Normal University. Details are given outlining the 17 open-ended physics problems given to the participating students, noting the final rankings by country, and information on the pending 2014 event.

The article discusses a project developed in 1964 at the Science Education Center of the University of Texas. According to the article, the project focused on the development of new materials useful in teaching science at all levels of instruction. It adds that the project was designed to develop autoinstructional materials using the content, methods and philosophy of the Physical Science Study Committee's (PSSC) physics program. Furthermore, the autoinstructional materials were analyzed to determine its effectiveness in teaching physics to students enrolled in a selected group of high schools in Texas.

The article presents a study which evaluated textbooks for high school physics with respect to their levels of reading difficulty in the U.S. The Flesch formula for evaluating the textbooks is used. The formula assumes that the reading difficulty of material depends on the number of words in the sentences, the relative number of personal references in the material, and the number of affixes and suffixes to the words. The study indicates that the average grade levels of reading difficulty of various textbooks for physics varies greatly. Within the individual textbooks for physics there is a great variation in level of reading difficulty.

This article focuses on the organization of high school courses in physics into units which are capable of complete learning. The basic concept of unit organization has been widely misunderstood. The unit in a content subject is a part of subject matter which is organized in such a way as to lead the student, through a suitable series of experiences that help in the comprehension and application of a given principle. Complete learning refers to the ability on the part of the student to solve new problems which are based on the particular principle that is being studied. The whole make-up of the class depends on the original objectives that are set up as the goal for the classroom instruction. The course "First Principles of Physics" can be divided into several units such as "Why Objects Float," "How Man Makes Use of Gaseous and Liquid Pressures," "Sound Production and Control," and "Magnetism and Electromagnetic Induction."

Traditional high school physics instruction often comes across as a mere extension of the mathematics classroom to many of our students. Solving numerical physics problems using structures such as the GUESS method (given, unknown, equation, substitute, solve) doesn't help students with conceptual understanding. With the advent of physics education research (PER), problem solving in physics has taken a supporting, rather than starring, role, and modern PER-based physics instruction focuses chiefly on students having to write to explain their predictions and thought processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]