Announcement from Publisher

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64529/1/20362_ftp.pd

Discipline‐centered post‐secondary science education research: Distinctive targets, challenges and opportunities

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108082/1/tea21165.pd

Absence of Klein's paradox for massive bosons coupled by nonminimal vector interactions

A few properties of the nonminimal vector interactions in the Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau theory are revised. In particular, it is shown that the space component of the nonminimal vector interaction plays a peremptory role for confining bosons whereas its time component contributes to the leakage. Scattering in a square step potential with proper boundary conditions is used to show that Klein's paradox does not manifest in the case of a nonminimal vector coupling

Advancing the field through multiple media

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69179/1/20376_ftp.pd

The Value and Challenges of Using Learning Technologies to Support Students in Learning Science

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43635/1/11165_2004_Article_5111858.pd

Transforming energy instruction in middle school to support integrated understanding and future learning

Energy is a fundamental unifying concept of science, yet common approaches to energy instruction in middle school have shown little success with helping students develop their naïve ideas about energy into more sophisticated understandings that are useful for making sense of their experiences. While traditional energy instruction often focuses on simple calculations of energy in idealized systems, we developed a new middle school energy unit that focuses qualitatively on the energy transformations that occur in everyday, nonidealized, systems. In this article, we describe our approach to energy instruction and report the effects this approach had on students' energy conceptions, ability to perform on distal criterion‐referenced assessments, and preparation for future energy‐related learning. Results indicate that during instruction, students' energy conceptions progress from a set of disconnected ideas toward an integrated understanding that is organized around the principle of transformation, and that these more integrated conceptions both boost students' ability to make sense of everyday phenomena and lay the groundwork for more efficient and meaningful energy‐related learning in the future. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 95: 670–699, 2011Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87139/1/20423_ftp.pd

Supporting Student System Modelling Practice Through Curriculum and Technology Design

Developing and using models to make sense of phenomena or to design solutions to problems is a key science and engineering practice. Classroom use of technology-based tools can promote the development of students’ modelling practice, systems thinking, and causal reasoning by providing opportunities to develop and use models to explore phenomena. In previous work, we presented four aspects of system modelling that emerged during our development and initial testing of an online system modelling tool. In this study, we provide an in-depth examination and detailed evidence of 10th grade students engaging in those four aspects during a classroom enactment of a system modelling unit. We look at the choices students made when constructing their models, whether they described evidence and reasoning for those choices, and whether they described the behavior of their models in connection with model usefulness in explaining and making predictions about the phenomena of interest. We conclude with a set of recommendations for designing curricular materials that leverage digital tools to facilitate the iterative constructing, using, evaluating, and revising of models

Journal of Research in Science Teaching annual report: January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83749/1/20416_ftp.pd

Testing of CP, CPT and causality violation with the light propagation in vacuum in presence of the uniform electric and magnetic fields

We have considered the structure of the fundamental symmetry violating part of the photon refractive index in vacuum in the presence of constant electric and magnetic fields. This part of the refractive index can, in principle, contain CPT symmetry breaking terms. Some of the terms violate Lorentz invariance, whereas the others violate locality and causality. Estimates of these effects, using laser experiments are considered.Comment: 12 page