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For students to be able to compete and overcome challenges in the future, critical thinking is essential. The study's descriptive methodology aims to describe the students' critical thinking abilities. Every high school in a South Sulawesi district made up the research population. Based on school accreditation, with the use of a proportionate stratified random sampling technique, 150 students were chosen to comprise the research sample. The test instrument used is an essay distributed online. The indicators for the description questions are interpretation, analysis, and interpretation thinking skills. According to the study's findings, students' critical thinking abilities in static fluid material have an average score in the medium category of 73.09. In terms of school accreditation, students' physics critical thinking abilities average 73.87 for schools with A accreditation, 72.43 for schools with B accreditation, and 68.47 for schools with C accreditation. The percentage of each indicator of critical thinking skills is 34.58 in inference, 33.70 in analysis, and 31.71 in interpretation. It is anticipated that this study will give a broad picture of students' critical thinking competencies for teachers to choose and implement the most suitable stimulus to aid students in developing their critical thinking abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical waves are one of the basic topics of physics; they are also the basis of various fields such as physical optics, geophysics, engineering, and medical physics. This study aims to investigate the mechanical wave concepts of Thai high school students. Participants were 150 grade 11 - 12 students from a high school in Songkhla Province, Thailand. They were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 77 students - grade 12 who had already learned about mechanical waves, and the second group consisted of 73 students - grade 11 who had not yet learned about the topic. The main instrument was the Mechanical Wave Conceptual Survey (Tongchai, Sharma, Johnston, Arayathanitkul & Soankwan, 2009) which consisted of 22 multiple-choice questions. The researchers also asked students to provide their reasoning for choosing their answers for each multiple-choice question. The survey was administered to students and they were given 50 minutes to complete it. Students' answers and their reasoning were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. As a result, students' responses were categorized into four main topics: 1) propagation; 2) superposition; 3) reflection; and 4) standing waves. Responses from both groups of students indicated the same misconceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physics is considered by students as a difficult subject to learn because some physics concepts look like abstracts to students. Electrostatics is the one concept that challenges the students due to its abstract and difficulty to learn. This study aimed to assess the impact of using physics education technology (PhET) simulation on the conceptual understanding of electrostatics within the selected secondary schools of the Muhanga District. A quasiexperimental design was used to investigate the effect of PhET simulations on the conceptual understanding of electrostatics. The study explored the interaction between students and teachers when electrostatics is presented using PhET Simulation. Two groups were used, one group called the control group, which taught by using the traditional method of teaching and the experimental group was taught using PhET simulations. Pre- and post-test were administered to both the control and experimental group. Independent sample t-test results have shown that there was no significant difference in the mean score for the pre-test for both the control and experimental group (p>0.01) while there was a significant difference between the mean score for students in the experimental group and the control group after the intervention. The study used a paired sample t-test to determine whether there is a significant difference in the mean score in the pre- and post-test for the experimental group, the results showed that there is a significant difference in pre- and post-test scores (p<0.01). On the other hand, the observation showed that the interaction between students and teachers increased when PhET simulation was used as an ICT tool. These results show that the use of PhET simulation has an improvement on the conceptual understanding of electrostatics for students taught using this PhET simulation. The study recommends physics teachers use PhET simulation to teach abstract concepts like electrostatics to improve students' conceptual understanding. Further, they should create an environment, where students can learn difficult concepts with the help of PhET simulation to motivate and engage them for a better conceptual understanding of the concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Einstein's derivation of special relativity theory (SRT), based on hypothetical reasoning and thought experiments, is regarded as a prime example of physics theory development. In secondary education, the introduction of SRT could provide a great opportunity for students to engage in physics theorizing, but this opportunity is largely being missed in current teaching practice. One reason could be that secondary students lack some knowledge of electromagnetism that was central to Einstein's argument. Therefore, we conducted an educational reconstruction to develop a teaching approach that would not rely on advanced understanding of electromagnetism, yet retain the modes of reasoning that were characteristic of Einstein's approach. In our reconstruction, we identified the light postulate, which is notoriously difficult for students to grasp, as a central concept. We developed a teaching and learning sequence in which students perform relativistic thought experiments and try different interpretations of the light postulate. Through these activities, students experienced how the new concepts meet the requirements for a good theory. Experimental evaluation of the teaching and learning sequence indicates that this can be a fruitful approach to introduce SRT to secondary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although physics is one of the most male-dominated educational fields in Europe and North America, this is not the case in all parts of the world. The present study investigates contextual variability in the physics gender gap by leveraging unique characteristics of the Israeli state educational system, including its highly standardized national curriculum and its distinct school sectors that differ on key analytical dimensions. First, comparison of schools serving different sociocultural groups reveals strong overrepresentation of boys in advanced physics courses in the Hebrew-speaking but not the Arabic-speaking school sector. This pattern aligns with previous cross-national studies showing more gender-integration of STEM fields in contexts characterized by more socioeconomic precarity and in Muslim-majority societies. Second, comparison of advanced physics course-taking between coeducational and single-sex schools provides no support for claims about the degendering effects of single-sex education. Results are consistent with accounts that treat educational gender segregation as the product of contextually contingent sorting processes rather than stable characteristics of boy and girl students. Initiatives aimed at addressing the gender gap in STEM fields must be calibrated to the diverse sociocultural contexts in which these sorting processes unfold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary school students often only use the rules for doing scientific inquiry when prompted, as if they fail to see the point of doing so. This qualitative design study explores conditions to address this problem in school science inquiry. Dutch students (N = 22, aged 14–15) repeatedly consider the quality of their work: in a conventional, guided inquiry approach; by evaluating their conclusion in terms of the contextual purpose of the investigation; as consumers of knowledge facing the (hypothetical) risk of applying the findings in the real world. By gauging students' confidence in the inquiry's trustworthiness, we established that, while each confrontation instigated some students to (re)consider the quality of their inquiry, the final stage had the greatest impact. Students came to see that finding trustworthy results is essential, requiring scientific standards. The scientific quality of their inquiries was described, weaknesses identified and compared with the improvements students themselves proposed for their inquiries. While the improvemens were expressed in non-specific terms these align with a scientific perspective. Students now wanted to find trustworthy answers by exploiting scientific standards. In enabling students to engage successfully in basic scientific inquiry, finding ways to establish students' mental readiness for attending to the quality of their scientific claims, and of personalised scientific criteria for their assessment, is indispensable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PhET (Physics Education Technology) interactive simulation is a website-based simulation developed by simulation experts from the University of Colorado Boulder to help students learn physics through simulated learning. This research aims to examine students' achievement after utilized simulated learning and teaching. A module and teaching plan have been specifically designed by researchers to be integrated with PhET simulation in the students' teaching and learning processes. This research utilized a quasi-experimental design where pre-and post-tests are multiple choice type of test involved 30 students in the experimental group (using simulated learning) and 30 students in the control group (using conventional learning). The results showed that there were significant differences in pre-and post-tests means scores for the experimental group. On the other hand, the control group showed no significant differences. This proved that PhET simulation, with well-designed module and teaching plan can improve students' achievement in physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Augmented Reality (AR)‐based learning environment not only provides educators with novel ways to present learning materials but also give learners the opportunity to spontaneously interact with the material. Previous studies have shown that AR has many advantages in education; however, few focuses on the mechanisms behind promoting inquiry motivation, such as the effect of AR on learners' self‐efficacy and conceptions of learning. This study developed an AR‐based wave‐particle duality learning application, "AROSE," to explore the effect of AR technology on students' self‐efficacy and conceptions of learning physics. A quasi‐experimental study method was used, and 98 high school students aged between 16 and 18 were randomly assigned to experimental and control group. After a 4‐week intervention, it was found that integrating AR technology into physics classrooms can (1) significantly enhance students' physics learning self‐efficacy, as indicated by understanding of concepts, higher‐level cognitive skills, practice and communication; (2) guide students to be more inclined to higher‐level conceptions of learning physics rather than lower ones; and (3) stimulates students' motivation to learn more deeply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR) provides the best available description of gravity. The recent detection of gravitational waves and the first picture of a black hole have provided spectacular confirmations of GR, as well as arousing substantial interest in topics related to gravitation. However, to understand present and future discoveries, it is convenient to look to the past, to the classical tests of GR, namely, the deflection of light by the Sun, the perihelion precession of Mercury, and the gravitational redshift of light. The objective of this work is to offer a non-technical introduction to the classical tests of GR. In this first part of the work, some basic concepts of relativity are introduced and the principle of equivalence is analysed. The second part of the article examines the classical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the impact of the role and significance of the virtual laboratory on ninth-grade lyceum students' attainment of more-in depth scientific knowledge and improved practical skills in the physics topic area of electromagnetism. Pedagogical experiments were conducted at the Baku European Lyceum. The results show that the virtual laboratory enabled the lyceum students to improve their critical thinking and creative abilities, as well as their capacity to solve complicated physics tasks relating to electromagnetism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the long history of astronomy, scientists have repeatedly written fictional stories, which often lend themselves to use in the classroom thanks to the authors' in-depth knowledge and an appealing storyline. This article uses the novel 'The Black Cloud', written by the well-known astronomer Fred Hoyle, to show which physical-astronomical tasks can be derived from it. For this purpose, the use of text excerpts as well as the whole novel is conceivable. Beyond the examples of distance determination and the thermodynamics of the atmosphere presented here, the book also offers interesting insights into the work of astronomers in the 1950s, which Hoyle was able to report on first-hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple apparatus consisting of a plastic syringe coupled with a U-tube has been constructed. This setup is filled with water to trap air in one arm of the U-tube. A change in the volume of the enclosed air causes a change in its pressure that is indicated by the difference in the water levels. Boyle's law is shown by a linear relation between the pressure and the invers of the volume observed in the experimental result. Using the best linear fit we obtain the atmospheric pressure to be (108.7 ± 4.5) kPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A phone emitting sound of a fixed frequency is sliding on an inclined plane and approaching a second phone kept at the bottom of the plane. The detected frequency versus time data by the second phone are used to calculate the acceleration of the sliding phone. The primary objective of this paper is to calculate the sliding friction between the phone and the plane from the acceleration values. It demonstrates that the sliding friction is constant irrespective of the inclination of the plane. Results are in good agreement with the one obtained from the video analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing acceleration and forces are part of the excitement of a roller coaster ride. According to Newton's second law, , every part of our body must be exposed to a force to accelerate. Since our bodies are not symmetric, the direction of the force matters, and must be accounted for by ride designers. An additional complication is that not all parts of the body accelerate in the same way when the acceleration is changing, i.e. when there is jerk. Softer parts of the body provide varying levels of damping, and different parts of the body have different frequency responses and different resonance frequencies that should be avoided or reduced by the roller coaster designer. This paper discusses the effect of acceleration, jerk, snap and vibration on the experience and safety of roller coaster rides, using authentic data from a dive coaster as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glowing discharges of plasma obtained by introducing direct current high voltages between two electrodes in a chamber that contains a low pressure gas produces a spectacular effect that makes it attractive to be used as a laboratory experiment for students. Setting up this experiment is however costly and has crucial safety issues to be addressed. An augmented reality approach here allows students to conduct such an experiment effectively. It was designed to guide students on how to conduct the experiment safely and properly, as well as to allow them to note the voltage breakdown values according to Paschen's rule. The tool has the strong advantage of allowing students to conduct experimentation without removing any of the real-life and tactile features that help to constitute cognition events in the natural world. It also yielded positive responses when tested on 39 high school students as part of an outreach program for science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short videos are widely used in secondary level physics classes, part of a portfolio of strategies for teaching and learning. However, research into how they are used, why they are used and the optimum design for learning is in its infancy. This paper seeks to examine how videos are used in UK physics classrooms for the communication of physics ideas and for practical work. It features the results of a small survey of physics teachers and the results of a search through the relevant literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on enrolment in advanced level Mathematics and Physics in secondary school among first and second generations of Former Soviet Union immigrants and third generation Israeli‐born Jews. The article made use of the Israeli Ministry of Education's database, which includes data on all students who finished their secondary education with a matriculation certificate in 2013. Our findings show the advantage of enrolment in Physics, which is perceived as the most difficult subject, among FSU immigrant students compared to the third generation of Israeli‐born students. This advantage may be explained by their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)‐related cultural capital. However, first‐generation FSU students were less likely to be enrolled in advanced‐level Mathematics compared to third‐generation Jews. These findings may emphasize the role of the Israeli education system as a gatekeeper in entering more prestigious Mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile technology has been increasingly adopted in science education. We generally assume that more innovative use of mobile technology leads to a greater learning outcome. Yet, there is a lack of empirical research to support this assumption. To fill in the gap, we drew upon data from 803 high school students who had used mobile devices for five months in physics classrooms. Using the SAMR model (ie, Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition), we distinguished their uses into two levels: Substitution (replacing traditional instructional approach with mobile technology without functional improvement), and augmentation (enhancing instruction with affordances provided by mobile technology). Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling analysis, we found that the augmentation level of use was positively correlated with the physics learning outcome, but the substitution level of use was not. We further identified four sub‐types of uses within the augmentation level. We found that after‐school remediatingactivities and student–teacher displayingactivities were positively correlated with student physics achievement, but teacher‐assigned activities had no significant correlation and learning aidactivities had a negative correlation with the learning outcome. This study provided empirical evidence to support the assumption that a higher level of mobile technology use may be related to a greater learning outcome and that the impact of mobile technology may be determined by multiple factors such as who initiates the use and whether the use enhances or distracts students' knowledge construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of the Mind Maps Teaching Method and the Conventional Teaching Method on tenth graders' immediate achievement and retention of electric energy concepts in Jordan. Participants (N= 111 students; M= 52, F= 59) were randomly selected from Bani Kenanah region, north of Jordan. One group was assigned to the Mind Maps Teaching Method (n=54) and other group was assigned to the Conventional Teaching Method (n= 57). A multiple-choice physics concept test and open-ended questions were developed and used. The results showed that the Mind Maps Teaching Method was more effective than the Conventional Teaching Method in immediate achievement and retention of electric energy concepts. There was a significant difference for students' gender on immediate achievement but not on retention. The findings recommended that curriculum developers and textbook authors should consider the characteristics of brain parts and their information process in any curriculum design and textbook development. Mind mapping should not be separated from any pedagogical practice in physics instruction.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed at analyzing student misconceptions about Newton's Laws through Four-Tier Newtonian Test (FTNT). The research involved 30 students (15 boys and 15 girls, whose ages were middling of 16 years-old) at one of Senior High School in Bandung, Indonesia. The data were analyzed through mixed methods. Based on the quantitative analysis, the highest percentage of student misconceptions through four-tier test was 66% and through two-tier test was 100%. According to qualitative analysis, it was found student misconceptions about Newton's Laws. From the research, it can be concluded that FTNT can be used in analyzing student misconceptions on Newton's Laws concepts and more effective than using the two-tier test. Teachers or researchers can expand the concepts of Newton's Laws that are used in designing diagnostic test and developed for other physics concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of pedagogical strategies for promoting conceptual understanding by reducing misconceptions. The case chosen to investigate this phenomenon involved 40 Thai vocational education students studying physics (electric circuits) in secondary school. The study investigated the effect of an explaining strategy on students' understanding. It also investigated the effect of an enacting strategy on students' overall misconceptions with one group (n=20) using an electric circuits board (CB) whilst another group (n=20) used a virtual simulation (VS) of electric circuits. Preand post-test results showed significant improvements in understanding. Pre- and posttest results for the 'enacting' strategy comparing the virtual simulation versus the electric circuits board showed significant increases within groups, as well as a significant reduction in misunderstanding for the VS group. However, the overall levels of misunderstanding remained high in spite of the significance of the intervention. This result confirms the characterisation of misconceptions as persistent difficulties. Implications point to the value of combining multiple strategies for conceptual understanding, matching strategies to the context and to the limitations of evaluating conceptual understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of practicum activities has not been performed maximally in which it is limited to unstructured observations without applying assessment instruments and it only covers some skills oriented aspects. For that reason, this research aimed to develop instruments for student performance assessment in physics practicum in State Senior High School of Magelang. This research development study was based on the Borg & Gall model. There were three basic steps followed; Phase 1 (problematization), Phase 2 (product creation), and Phase 3 (product testing) that consists of a limited experiment and a large group experiment. In the study, Aiken formula was used for the validation purposes and the results showed that the instrument had a high degree of content validity with the Alpha coefficient value of 0.948. Based on the Total Variance Explained table, the component column showed that there were six factors representing the variables. Accordingly, the instrument of this research was found feasible to be used for high school student performance assessment in physics practicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Letter to the Editor presents considerations in the design of synchronous meetings and classes to avoid 'Zoombies', as more students and teachers are engaged in online distance learning this coming school year due to the health crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate an integrative approach for practicing skills on laboratory applications of pre-service teachers in the context of the courses 'secondary physics experiment design' (SPED) and 'school experience' (SE). Research was implemented based on developer action research with the 20 physics pre-service teachers who were studying 5th grade in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years' spring semesters at KTÜ Fatih Faculty of Education Department of Mathematics and Science Education. Physics pre-service teachers were provided with micro-teaching practices for laboratory applications in the course of SPED in the faculty and SE in the application schools. At the end of the SE process, it was concluded that the activities carried out within the scope of the research before and after the application contributed significantly to the development of the pre-service teachers' practicing skills in the physics laboratory applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games are useful tools for introducing new concepts to students. This paper describes a competitive two-player game for sophomore students in a modern physics survey course or junior/senior students in an introductory quantum mechanics course to build intuition and quantitative understanding of the probabilistic nature of quantum measurements in two-level systems such as qubits or the Stern–Gerlach experiment. The goal of the game is to guess a quantum state secretly chosen from a given set in the fewest number of measurements. It uses 20-sided dice or other classical random number generators to simulate quantum measurements. The Bloch vector formalism is introduced to give a geometric description of the quantum states and measurement outcomes. Several ready-to-use sets of quantum states are given, so readers can jump right in and try the game themselves without any prior knowledge of quantum mechanics. More advanced students can also use the game in suggested follow-up exercises to deepen students' understanding of quantum measurements and their statistical description. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in contemporary science education emphasise the benefits of out-of-school learning experiences to help schools link science with everyday life (Tho, Chan, & Yeung, 2015). With the help of state-of-the-art technology, mobile devices -- particularly smartphones -- have the ability to work as data-logging tools for students to perform scientific investigation (Tho & Yeung, 2014). In this study, the research aim was to develop a hands-on activity to explore simple harmonic motion (SHM) in a playground using a smartphone for secondary school physics (Form 4 in the Malaysia Education Curriculum, ages 16-17) or senior secondary physics (Year 11 in the Australian Curriculum, ages 16-17). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how students taking a post-compulsory physics course for 16- to 19-year-olds (A-level physics) benefited from a change in pedagogy which meant that they spent more time problem solving in collaborative groups. Video analysis of these collaborative problem-solving sessions revealed that the students improved a number of key competences, including their use of metacognition. As a result, the students improved in their learning of physics, although the reasons for this differed from student to student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While Physics Education Research has a rich tradition of problem-solving scholarship, most of the work has focused on more traditional, well-defined problems. Less work has been done with ill-structured problems, problems that are better aligned with the engineering and design-based scenarios promoted by the Next Generation Science Standards. This study explored the relationship between physics content knowledge and ill-structured problem solving for two groups of high school students with different levels of content knowledge. Both groups of students completed an ill-structured problem set, using a talk-aloud procedure to narrate their thought process as they worked. Analysis of the data focused on identifying students’ solution pathways, as well as the obstacles that prevented them from reaching “reasonable” solutions. Students with more content knowledge were more successful reaching reasonable solutions for each of the problems, experiencing fewer obstacles. These students also employed a greater variety of solution pathways than those with less content knowledge. Results suggest that a student’s solution pathway choice may depend on how she perceives the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a mixed-methods study with high school students. The study focused on the reasons they give with regard to “what they find interesting about their physics lesson" and “what makes them want to study their physics lesson" during a school year. The sample consisted of 219 students, who attended public high schools, located in various geographical regions of Greece. Journal entries made by all students—that is, students from junior high and senior high schools—were content-analyzed through a grounded theory approach. A total of eight categories were identified. Quantitative differences between these categories, and between the two groups of students, were also identified. Even though some of the identified categories are well-known motivators in science education, three specific categories deserve particular attention: “connection to one's own self", “purpose", and “utility". Notwithstanding the limitations of the present research design (i.e., volunteer sample, lack of standardization in students" and especially in teachers' activities), these categories, along with two quantitative indicators—that is, number of journal entries and student percentages—challenge us to rethink what makes the ideas of science, especially those of physics, meaningful or simply relevant to the life of the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solving physical problems in teaching physics is an integral part of the educational process, as it is important in the formation of physical concepts, teaching students to study physical phenomena, developing mental abilities, clarifying knowledge, and applying them in practice. This article discusses the issue of increasing the level of knowledge of students through the teaching of physics in a secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assessed the impact of teaching methodological aspects of physics on students' scientistic beliefs and subject interest in physics in a repeated-measurement design with a total of 142 students of upper secondary physics classes. Students gained knowledge of methodological aspects from the pre-test to the post-test and reported reduced scientistic beliefs, both from their own views and from their presumed prototypical physicists' views. We found no direct impact of teaching on students' subject interest in physics. As path analysis indicates, this result can be traced back to opposing paths: Lower scientistic beliefs of students attenuate subject interest while lower presumed scientistic beliefs that they hold of physicists foster subject interest. This finding is in accordance with the self-to-prototype matching theory that predicts an impact of the overlap between students' self-image and their prototypical image on subject interest in physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study evaluated accessibility, flexibility, cost and learning effectiveness of researchersdeveloped virtual laboratory package for Nigerian secondary school physics. Based on these issues, four research questions were raised and answered. The study was a quantitativebased evaluation research. Sample for the study included 24 physics teachers, 35 computer experts and 29 physics students who evaluated the package using a questionnaire and physics achievement test. Data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation. Findings from the study revealed that the package was adjudged accessible to students within the school (average mean response of 2.98 out of 5), the flexibility of the package was rated low ( average mean response of 2.35 out of 5), and the package, though expensive to develop (total amount spent = $587.50) was considered profitable considering its unquantifiable educational benefits. Also, there was improvement in the achievement scores of students after learning the physics concepts using the package with mean gain score of 33.45. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, developers of learning packages such as virtual laboratories should ensure high flexibility of the packages in order to improve students' access to such on mobile devices and internet, and government should assist schools financially by providing needed funds for the development of contextually relevant learning packages as their benefits to students' learning of physics concepts are enormous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "Context Matters: Differential Gendering of Physics in Arabic‑speaking, Hebrew‑speaking, and Single‑Sex State Schools in Israel" which appeared in the June 2022 issue.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mathematicians and physical philosophers managed to study, via mathematics, various physical systems of the sublunar world through idealized and simplified models of these systems, constructed with the help of geometry. By analyzing these models, they were able to formulate new concepts, laws and theories of physics and then through models again, to apply these concepts and theories to new physical phenomena and check the results by means of experiment. Students' difficulties with the mathematics of high school physics are well known. Science education research attributes them to inadequately deep understanding of mathematics and mainly to inadequate understanding of the meaning of symbolic mathematical expressions. There seem to be, however, more causes of these difficulties. One of them, not independent from the previous ones, is the complex meaning of the algebraic concepts used in school physics (e.g. variables, parameters, functions), as well as the complexities added by physics itself (e.g. that equations' symbols represent magnitudes with empirical meaning and units instead of pure numbers). Another source of difficulties is that the theories and laws of physics are often applied, via mathematics, to simplified, and idealized physical models of the world and not to the world itself. This concerns not only the applications of basic theories but also all authentic end-of-the-chapter problems. Hence, students have to understand and participate in a complex interplay between physics concepts and theories, physical and mathematical models, and the real world, often without being aware that they are working with models and not directly with the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of exponential attenuation law and inverse-square law in teaching shielding calculation in radiotherapy for high school level physics class. Topics covered include the determination of primary barrier thickness of a radiotherapy room housing a high-energy photon source, validity of the inverse-square law and suggested additional activities.

The article discusses the use of the scientific method in the television show "MythBusters." Topics covered include analysis of the different episodes of the program for aspects of the scientific methods, the use of segments of the program to introduce the concept of experimental controls physics students in high schools and the usefulness of lesser-components of the scientific method including experimental controls, small-scale testing and objectivity.