Search

Physlets, educational applets developed at Davidson College, are a widely used teaching resource designed to simulate a variety of physical phenomena. Originally, each Physlet was a Java simulation that was embedded in an HTML page as an applet and then customized using JavaScript to simulate a specific physics concept. The use of Java to simulate the physics and HTML+ JavaScript to add narrative and to customize the web page allowed teachers to create thousands of Physlet-based illustrations, explorations, and problems. Unfortunately, changes in technology standards have required a drastic change in how these learning resources can be delivered.

Over the past 25 years, the Davidson College Physics Department has developed small computer programs called Physlets. These programs were written in Java and distributed as Java applets embedded in HTML pages. Physics teachers from around the world used Physlets to author interactive computer-based curricular materials for the teaching of introductory and advanced physics courses in multiple languages. Unfortunately, the Java plugin that enabled Java applets, including our original Physlets, to run was removed from browsers in 2018, Removing applet support, though critical for security reasons, was a major setback for physics education, since there had been thousands of applet-based HTML pages developed for physics and mathematics. To address this problem, we have converted Physlets to JavaScript so that they are compatible with all devices, inducing mobile platforms. This paper describes how these JavaScript Physlets can be used to improve teaching.

Over the past two years, the AAPT/ComPADRE staff and the Open Source Physics group have published the second edition of "Physlet Physics" and "Physlet Quantum Physics," delivered as interactive web pages on AAPT/ComPADRE and as free eBooks available through iTunes and Google Play. These two websites, and their associated books, add over 1000 interactive exercises for the teaching of introductory physics, introductory and intermediate modern physics, and quantum mechanics to AAPT/ComPADRE.

Teaching introductory astronomy means discussing celestial objects that are beyond most students' experience. Simply talking about them is usually not sufficient to convey their size, distance, complexity, and beauty. One way that we introduce our students to celestial objects is through observing sessions, but we have also extended these observing sessions to include astrophotography (AP). This approach relies on recent advances in the field of astrophotography. New computerized tracking and autoguiding mounts and digital still and video photography have made it easier and cheaper to take high-quality astrophotographs. While it is easy to spend $15,000 or more on a single astrophotography setup or even a single device (telescope, camera, and mount), taking simple, short-exposure photos can cost anywhere from $50 to a few hundred dollars depending on how much equipment you already have. (Contains 7 figures.)

More than 35 years ago, French and Taylor outlined an approach to teach students and teachers alike how to understand "qualitative plots of bound-state wave functions." They described five fundamental statements based on the quantum-mechanical concepts of probability and energy (total and potential), which could be used to deduce the shape of energy eigenfunctions. Despite these important and easy-to-follow statements, this approach has not been universally adopted in the teaching of quantum mechanics. For example, recent studies have shown that students' conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics on all levels is surprisingly lacking and that misconceptions are universal, including that of the relationship between the potential energy function and the resulting energy eigenfunction shape. At the same time, the teaching of quantum mechanical concepts in introductory physics has become increasingly important given the modern technological applications that are based on quantum theory (e.g., PET scans and MRIs). However, most treatments of quantum theory on the introductory level are cursory at best, leaving students with the impression that quantum mechanics is little more than abstract mathematics (a belief that remains with students in their future courses).

The October 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physics features a variety of articles covering different topics in physics. These include a lecture on pursuing excellence in physics, a resource letter on the synthesis of elements in stars, a study on the physics of "everesting" on a bicycle, an exploration of degrees of freedom in complex systems, an investigation into the elongation of ferrofluid droplets near magnets, an analysis of heat engines with finite reservoirs, a discussion on Heisenberg's reactor theory and the development of the atomic bomb, a simplified relativity experiment, a vector theory of gravitational waves, an experiment on two-particle interference, a numerical simulation project in micromagnetics, a model on opinion dynamics and cognitive biases, a flipped electronics lab for learning upper division electronics at home, and a review of the book "A Standard Model Workbook." These articles cover a range of topics and can be useful for researchers and students interested in various areas of physics. [Extracted from the article]

The September 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physics features a variety of articles covering different topics in physics. These include letters to the editor discussing entropy production diagrams and the need to honor Emmy Noether with a momentum unit. Other articles explore subjects such as advanced laboratory courses, data science education in undergraduate physics, the application of the heat equation to the study of underground temperature, the linear-algebraic derivation of the Lorentz transformation, and the understanding of exotic black hole orbits. Additionally, there are articles on coherent phonons, graphene in the undergraduate classroom, Bose and the angular momentum of the photon, and a comment on a recent paper about the value of eπ versus πe. The issue also includes a book review of "Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science." [Extracted from the article]

A recent paper in this journal presented a set of innovative uses of video analysis for introductory physics using Tracker. In addition, numerous other papers have described how video analysis can be a meaningful part of introductory courses. Yet despite this, there are few resources for using video analysis in introductory astronomy classes. In this paper we describe the use of Tracker in introductory astronomy to analyze a "video" consisting of a series of still images of star fields and sunspots. Because astronomy focuses on concepts unfamiliar to most students, the visualization that video analysis provides can be especially valuable. (Contains 4 figures.)

The April 2024 issue of the American Journal of Physics features a variety of articles covering topics in physics. One article provides an overview of dark matter, discussing its historical evidence, possible candidates, and detection techniques. Another article explores relativistic acceleration in noninertial frames, analyzing scenarios with differences in proper time elapsed and spacetime events. A third article discusses a method for calculating wavefunctions in quantum mechanics without differential equations. Other articles cover topics such as stochastic trajectories, Brownian motion, first passage time distribution, Young's double-slit interference, and using Minecraft for learning digital electronics. These articles offer valuable insights and experiments for students and researchers in the field of physics. [Extracted from the article]

We have recently developed a Graphs and Tracks model based on an earlier program by David Trowbridge, as shown in Fig. 1. Our model can show position, velocity, acceleration, and energy graphs and can be used for motion-to-graphs exercises. Users set the heights of the track segments, and the model displays the motion of the ball on the track together with position, velocity, and acceleration graphs. This ready-to-run model is available in the ComPADRE OSP Collection at www.compadre.org/osp/items/detail.cfm? ID=12023. (Contains 2 figures.)

The role of interactive teaching methods in improving learning of students is presented.

Physical education research is matured enough to address courses beyond the introductory level, and in particular researchers are investigating for improving students' understanding of quantum mechanics. The guideline provided by research-based learning tools has the potential to increase the number and proficiency of students who pursue advanced degree and careers in physical science and engineering.

The application of Physlets, an instructive tool for Physics, along with ranking task (RT) exercises for the improvement of student participation in introductory Physics is examined.

The materials used to help in the teaching and learning of introductory special relativity are described. The benefits offered to students by the visualization provided by Physlet-based material are also discussed.

Return to that time with the author, as he describes these instruments and fondly recalls the joys and challenges of using them as a student in the 1950s, and later as a young physics professor. These brief summaries are designed to help readers easily see which articles will be most valuable to them. The E&M lab may have disappeared long ago, replaced by courses in electronics and computing, but have we lost something valuable in the transition?. [Extracted from the article]

The article by Rod Cross describing the translational and rotational motion of the "Launch of a Vehicle from a Ramp" motivated us to create two computer models showing this type of dynamical behavior.

Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF 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 discusses the ways the Open Source Physics (OSP) project combines physical data and document markup language (XML) tags with the Launcher authoring tool for authoring curricular material. It is claimed that the OSP is a synergy of curriculum development, computational physics, computer science, and physics education for scientists and students. The combination offers users an easy-to-use and consistent paradigm to create, modify and distribute Java-based curricular material.