Knowledge Of Physical Sciences Research Articles

Contribution of Experience in the Acquisition of Physical Sciences Case of High School Students Qualifying

This work deals with the importance of experimental practice in the teaching of physical sciences. By practice, we rarely mean practical work carried out in the laboratory. We examined the relationship between students' knowledge of physical science and how practice may or may not help them understand chemical and/or physical concepts. What emerges from a survey distributed to our students is that they are very favorable of the use of the practice. The problem posed in this work consists in identifying the impact of experiments on the acquisition of knowledge and in responding to the problems of learning through experience in the short and medium term. The analysis of the answers allowed us to conclude that the experiment in class, by the teacher, helps to understand the physical and chemical phenomena and can be done before or after the study of the theory. The length and difficulty of practical work sometimes worry students, trying to follow the protocol step by step. This fact underscores the importance of clarity of purpose, through which students can be guided toward questioning what is expected of them, such as knowing how their knowledge has increased.

Do objects of different weight fall at the same time? Updating naive beliefs about free-falling objects from fictional and informational books in young children

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether children 4- and 5-years-old (N = 156) can revise a physical science misconception from different types of picture books. A realistic fiction book and informational book with identical images matched in word count and reading difficulty level were compared to a control book about plants. In the pretest and posttest, children were asked to make predictions about pairs of objects that either had the same or different weight. The pretest scores showed that many children began with the misconception that heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. Posttest scores revealed that children revised this misconception after reading the realistic fiction and informational picture books but not after reading the control book. These findings provide evidence that children as young as age 4 can acquire physical science knowledge from picture books and that both realistic fiction and informational books can be used effectively to expose children to science concepts.

A narration of a physical science teacher's experience of implementing a new curriculum

This article narrates the lived experiences of a Physical Science teacher named Thobani (pseudonym) in implementing a new curriculum in South Africa. Drawing on the work of Husserl and Heidegger, the article describes the objects of direct experience in Thobani’s consciousness about his life as a learner and teacher as revealed during an in-depth semi-structured interview conducted from two perspectives. The genealogical part of the interview chronicled how his knowledge of Physical Science had unfolded in his life as a learner and subsequently as a teacher; the portraiture perspective recounted the often traumatic events of his personal life and the circumstances that had informed his decision to become a teacher. Theoretically, the findings reveal how an incompetent Physical Science teacher had hampered his understanding of the fundamentals of the subject, and how the lack of support from the Department of Education and his head of department had retarded the implementation process. The insights gleaned from this phenomenological investigation into the thought processes of a teacher introduced to a new curriculum could have potentially transformative effects for policy-makers, curriculum planners and teacher educators at a time when South African teachers are yet again faced with the implementation of a new curriculum.

More Than Texts Need Reform in Middle Schools

In his Physics Today article May 2003, page 50, John Hubisz discusses the results of a review of middle-school science texts. I read the Hubisz report 1 1. J. L. Hubisz, Review of Middle School Physical Science Texts, available online at http://www.psrc-online.org/curriculum/book.html. when it first came out. The basic premise was accurate; opening a random textbook to a random page was about all it took to find several mistakes.But has Hubisz done recent homework to check for signs of change? In particular, has he looked for improvement in the textbook selection process in large, influential states? In 2000, California made significant strides toward improving texts.Hubisz writes, “Publishers aim to satisfy the committees that select texts, even though the members of those committees typically have little knowledge of physical science.” My husband, an excellent chemistry teacher, chaired the California Curriculum Commission’s science subcommittee and oversaw California’s last science book adoption. Every submitted textbook was read first by a content review panel composed of three people, each with a terminal degree in science. Texts were then reviewed more thoroughly by committees of teachers and others. Although a few errors remain in the books that survived to adoption, those errors are much fewer than in previous texts. Some errors persist because of time demands on reviewers and the need to provide teachers and students with tools to meet California’s demanding content standards. For the review criteria used, see reference 22. California State Board of Education, Science Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve, California Department of Education, Sacramento, Calif. (1990), p. 300. Relevant section is available online at http://www.cde.ca.gov/cdepress/science-framework/science-framework-pt7.pdf..Yes, texts need to be improved, to become more accurate, more interesting, and less disjointed. Yes, well-crafted laboratory activities need to be encouraged. But more has to happen before all children get a good science education. An important step is to make sure that students can read well enough to take meaning from those texts. Many can’t now, but research-based reading interventions are being developed and implemented. And then the education system will have to deal with pesky student deficiencies in math. These areas especially need improvement if students are to understand and appreciate science. Another reform that is badly needed, particularly at the middle-school level, is to improve teachers’ science content mastery. Even decent books can be undercut if science-ignorant teachers design their own “innovative” lessons. A couple of years ago, I watched students in an eighth-grade class, with their newly adopted textbooks pushed to the side, do an exercise about molecules. The assignment was to take a chemical formula—for example, Fe2O3—and design and color a fanciful molecule based only on the students’ artistic vision. One might argue that eighth grade is not the right time to introduce the details of bonding and molecular geometry, but a teacher who knew such things would never have caused students future confusion by assigning this counterproductive exercise.The problem is multidimensional, and yes, physicists and other scientists should get involved.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. J. L. Hubisz, Review of Middle School Physical Science Texts, available online at http://www.psrc-online.org/curriculum/book.html. Google Scholar2. California State Board of Education, Science Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve, California Department of Education, Sacramento, Calif. (1990), p. 300. Relevant section is available online at http://www.cde.ca.gov/cdepress/science-framework/science-framework-pt7.pdf. Google Scholar© 2003 American Institute of Physics.

The 2001 Bower Award & prize for achievement in science presented to Paul Baran

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania awarded the 2001 Bower Award and prize to Paul Baran for his efforts to advance our knowledge of physical science or its application for his seminal invention of packet switching—the foundation of modern communications networks and, in particular, the Internet. Simply stated the technology of packet-switching, allows pieces of information to be divided into small packets or “envelopes” of information that are addressed, sent using multiple available routes to a specific destination, then reassembled. This technology—a post office-like system—revolutionized the telecommunications industry. Originally devised during the cold war for a military communications system survivable in the event of nuclear attack, packet switching became the foundation of computer networks including the Internet and truly has altered the world in which we live.

The 2001 Benjamin Franklin medal in physics presented to Alan Guth, Ph.D. of Cambridge, Massachusetts

The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics to Alan H. Guth for his efforts to advance our knowledge of physical science and its application of the inflationary scenario, in which the universe undergoes a rapid expansion in the first stages of the Big Bang.

The Trial of an Innovative Science Programme for Preservice Primary Teachers in Fiji

Science teaching in Fiji is often very formalistic and didactic. This is in part due to an extremely competitive examination system, but work by Muralidhar (1989, An exploratory study of a science curriculum in action: basic science in Fiji, Unpublished Ph. D. thesis, Monash University) has also indicated that at the primary‐ and lower‐secondary‐levels teachers’ content knowledge of physical science was often lacking. This in turn impacted on the teachers’ confidence, and often resulted in a teacher‐centred approach in which there was little deviation from the set text. This article outlines an innovative science programme which was developed and trialled with Fijian preservice primary teachers in an attempt to improve their content knowledge of physical science. It also reports some of the student teachers’ views on the various teaching strategies employed during the programme.

‘Two Cultures’ Revisited

Vanity of Science Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science.(Pascal, Pensées, No. 23)

Innovative Introduction to Civil Engineering Curriculum

Many undergraduate teaching institutions have modified their civil engineering curricula to incorporate technical and philosophical innovations into their programs. The modifications range from modest changes in course content to new sequences of interwoven and complementary courses. Villanova University’s new civil engineering curriculum retains a core of courses in five basic disciplines: environmental engineering, structures, transportation engineering, hydraulics and hydrology, and geotechnical engineering. The curriculum includes a new introductory course, “Civil Engineering Measurements,” that is designed to stimulate the students’ interest and introduce them to the five disciplines. The course draws on the students’ knowledge of physical science and allows them to use these principles in quantifying data they derive from working on practical problems and projects. Most of the course is centered around two major team projects: an environmental study of a local stream and a model truss. The course was introduced in fall 1992 and appears to have been successful in stimulating and motivating the students as well as preparing them for their subsequent studies.

A study of the nature of incidental physical science knowledge possessed by elementary school children in Western State of Nigeria

This study was designed to examine the amount of incidental physical science knowledge possessed by fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students in elementary schools in Western State of Nigeria, and to determine what relationship exists between the amount of such knowledge and the pupils' performance on science-related Piagetian tasks. The pupils were ,tested with the Physical Science Knowledge Test and numerous Piagetian tasks. The responses of the pupils were then subjected to an iten-by-item analysis and to the t-test, analysis of variance, and correlational analysis. Some of the results of this study were: there was a significant difference between the amount of incidental science knowledge possessed by urban school children and that possessed by their non-urban counterparts; the performances on the Piagetian tasks were age-dependent, with the older children performing better than the younger children; and a significant positive correlation was found between the amount of incidental science knowledge possessed by sclh.N1 children of each grade of study and their performance on the Piagetian tasks. (Author/MLH) *********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * ***********************************************************************

Status inconsistency theory and flying saucer sightings.

The analysis is completed. Through a series of propositions and hypothesized links between the reporting of UFO sightings and a particular kind of social position, the utility of social theory as a basis for explaining phenomena presumed to be in the domain of the physical sciences has been demonstrated. Nothing in the data rejects the possibility that some individuals have, in fact, seen objects propelled from another solar system or that all observations are of ill-understood or misperceived terrestrial phenomena. Empirical science, particularly social science, does not address itself to ultimate truth. What has been attempted here is the employment of a sociological theory to account successfully for observed regularity in patterns of UFO sightings. Another and reasonable, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, procedure for organizing social data might provide an equal degree of explanatory consistency. This analysis merely emphasizes the need to utilize such approaches outside the confines of laboratory groups and the more convenient and established domains of social science. Our analysis has presented just one application of sociological theory to the complex interplay among quasi-scientific phenomena, physical science knowledge, and human behavior in society.

(1) The Natural History of Ice and Snow: Illustrated from the Alps (2) The Art and Sport of Alpine Photography

(1) DR. TUTTON'S work on the Alps is a valuable contribution to the literature on ice and snow. It will appeal in particular to those alpinists who have at least a fair general knowledge of physical science and to those others who visit the Alps of Europe with but the common desire to enjoy a holiday there, and at the same time to see and understand the most striking of the developments of snow, ice, and stream in that marvellous country. (1) The Natural History of Ice and Snow: Illustrated from the Alps. By Dr. A. E. H. Tutton. Pp. xvi + 319 + 48 plates. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd. 1927.) 21s. net. (2) The Art and Sport of Alpine Photography. Described and Illustrated by Arthur Gardner. Pp. 224 + 150 plates. (London: H. F. and G. Witherby, 1927.) 21s. net.

The Diagnosing of Troubles in Electrical Machines

WHEN an electrical machine is not working satisfactorily it is necessary for the engineer to diagnose the trouble and, if possible, suggest a remedy. The engineer in the works when testing the finished machine has every scientific instrument at his command. On the other hand the engineer responsible for running machinery has only a few voltmeters, ammeters and wattmeters available. Both engineers., however, will probably find what they require in the book under notice. It would be impossible within the limits of a single book to deal with every case that might arise, but there are several general methods of procedure given by the author which if followed will so limit the position or nature of the fault that its detection becomes easy. Prof. Miles Walker has had exceptional experience with machinery during the last thirty years and so lays the greatest stress on those faults which occur most often; in some cases the faults are due to abstruse causes which make great demands on the expert's knowledge of physical science.