We have developed an eye-catching demonstration that showcases a variety of physics topics from total internal reflection to electrostatics to non-Newtonian fluid dynamics, including the Kaye effect. The essential components of the demonstration include a vertical stream of liquid soap in which a laser pointer is internally reflected, and which…

Energy Theater is a dynamic, full-body activity that engages all students in representing the flow of energy in various phenomena, such as a light bulb burning steadily or a refrigerator cooling food. In Energy Theater, each participant acts as a unit of energy that has one form at a time. Regions on the floor correspond to objects in a physical…

A vehicle starts from rest at constant acceleration, then cruises at constant speed for a time. Next, it decelerates at a constant rate.… This and similar statements are common in elementary physics courses. Students are asked to graph the motion of the vehicle or find the velocity, acceleration, and distance traveled by the vehicle from a given…

Service learning is a method of instruction where the students in a course use the course's content in a service project. The service is included as a portion of the students' course grades. During the fall semester 2010, service learning was incorporated into the Introduction to Astronomy course at Misericordia University. The class had…

Someone in a car moving at constant speed along a smooth, straight road cannot perceive movement unless he looks out a window. When the person looks out and sees another car traveling alongside, in the same direction and at an equal speed, he will think that the other car is not moving either. When we see a tree in the distance as we are driving…

Each year our physical science class for pre-service elementary teachers launches water-powered rockets based on the activity from NASA. We analyze the rocket flight using data from frame-by-frame video analysis of the launches. Before developing the methods presented in this paper, we noticed our students were mired in calculation details while…

Elementary school students learn that atoms are very, very small. Students are also taught that atoms (and molecules) are the fundamental constituents of the material world. Numerical values of their size are often given, but, nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine their size relative to one's everyday surroundings. In order for students to…

The familiar kaleidoscope toy was developed by the Scottish physicist David Brewster (1781-1868) in 1816, patented by him in 1817, and described in his 1819 book, "A Treatise on the Kaleidoscope." Generations of elementary students have made their own kaleidoscopes by assembling three microscope slides inside a tube and looking through it at a…

In this paper I describe an in-class discussion activity aimed at helping elementary education majors in a physical science course think about issues surrounding the inclusion of "Intelligent Design" in public school science standards. I discuss the background instruction given, the content of the activity, and some results from its use in class.