The aim of this study was to find out parents' and children's perception of outdoor learning programmes with specific reference to Archimedes Forest Schools, known as Forest Schools. A review of existing research showed that there had been no rigorous evaluation of perception of forest schools. The study was conducted in the UK and mixed method…

Transfer is not static but a dynamic process of learning. In this article, the concept of transfer and the implications of its study are reconsidered from the theoretical basis of the complex dynamic system approach. We describe "transfer" as an emergent process that implies not a copy of knowledge applied to a new situation, but a new…

Archimedes calculated the centre of gravity of the cone but the proof of this theorem is not extant in his works. Knorr made a reconstruction of this proof utilizing geometrical arguments. This paper proves this theorem by means of a physical demonstration utilizing the law of the lever, and by adapting from Archimedes the method of mechanical…

This study aims to design a mechanism with which the density of any solid or liquid can be determined without measuring its mass and volume in order to help students comprehend the concept of density more easily. The "solidensimeter" comprises of two scaled and nested glass containers (graduated cylinder or beaker) and sufficient water.…

The present study aimed to investigate in what way and to what extent Taiwanese college students' epistemological views of mathematics had evolved during a history-based liberal arts mathematics course titled: "When Liu Hui Meets Archimedes--Development of Eastern and Western Mathematics." The course was designed to help college students…

In the fall of 2011, Park Forest Middle School (PFMS) students approached the STEM faculty with numerous questions regarding the popular television show Myth Busters, which detailed Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, and inventor, Archimedes. Two episodes featured attempts to test historical accounts that Archimedes developed a death ray…

Over 2200 years ago, in order to determine the purity of a golden crown of the king of Syracuse, Archimedes submerged the crown in water and determined its volume by measuring the volume of the displaced water. This simple experiment became the foundation of what eventually became known as Archimedes' principle: An object fully or partially…

Archimedes' principle is well known to state that a body submerged in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. Herein, Archimedes' principle is derived from first principles by using conservation of the stress-energy-momentum tensor in general coordinates. The resulting expression for the force is…

Using modern technology to examine classical mathematics problems at the high school level can reduce difficult computations and encourage generalizations. When teachers combine historical context with access to technology, they challenge advanced students to think deeply, spark interest in students whose primary interest is not mathematics, and…

The Cartesian diver experiment certainly occupies a place of honour in old physics textbooks as a vivid demonstration of Archimedes' buoyancy. The original experiment, as described in old textbooks, shows Archimedes buoyancy qualitatively: when the increased weight of the diver is not counterbalanced by Archimedes' buoyancy, the diver sinks. When…

A mathematical derivation of the force exerted by an "inhomogeneous" (i.e. compressible) fluid on the surface of an "arbitrarily shaped" body immersed in it is not found in the literature, which may be attributed to our trust in Archimedes' law of buoyancy. However, this law, also known as Archimedes' principle (AP), does not yield the force…

The refraction problem, well-known in calculus and physics, continues to reveal new insights. This paper presents a geometric solution in which the trammel of Archimedes plays the prominent role. When properly configured, the trammel generates an ellipse and its family of normal lines. One normal line in particular intersects the boundary…

Inquiry learning is an educational approach in which learners actively construct knowledge and in which performing investigations and conducting experiments is central. To support learners in designing informative experiments we created a scaffold, the Experiment Design Tool (EDT), that provided learners with a step-by-step structure to select…

Archimedes, the famous Greek mathematician, lived from 287 BCE until approximately 212 BCE. He thought that the figure of two semi-circles on a straight line enclosed by a larger semi-circle resembled a shoemaker's knife. Archimedes called this figure an "arbelos" since arbelos is the Greek word for a shoemaker's knife. The author describes the…

In a recent paper, Zable described an experiment with a near-spherical balloon filled with impure helium. Measuring the temperature and the pressure inside and outside the balloon, the lift of the balloon, and the mass of the balloon materials, he described how to use the ideal gas laws and Archimedes' principal to compute the average molecular…