Students generally have difficulty understanding friction and its associated phenomena. High school and introductory college-level physics courses usually do not give the topic the attention it deserves. We have designed a sequence for teaching about friction between solids based on a didactic reconstruction of the relevant physics, as well as research findings about student conceptions. The sequence begins with demonstrations that illustrate different types of friction. Experiments are subsequently performed to motivate students to obtain quantitative relations in the form of phenomenological laws. To help students understand the mechanisms producing friction, models illustrating the processes taking place on the surface of bodies in contact are proposed.
We designed a teaching-learning sequence on rolling motion, rooted in previous research about student conceptions, and proposing an educational reconstruction strongly centred on the role of friction in different cases of rolling. A series of experiments based on video analysis is used to highlight selected key concepts and to motivate students in their exploration of the topic; and interactive simulations, which can be modified on the fly by students to model different physical situations, are used to stimulate autonomous investigation in inquiry activities. The activity sequence was designed for students on introductory physics courses and was tested with a group of student teachers. Comparisons between pre-and post-tests, and between our results and those reported in the literature, indicate that students' understanding of rolling motion improved markedly and some typical difficulties were overcome.
We present a teaching module dealing with the thermal effects of interaction between radiation and matter, the infrared emission of bodies and the greenhouse effect devoted to university level and teacher education. The module stresses the dependence of the optical properties of materials (transparency, absorptivity and emissivity) on radiation frequency, as a result of interaction between matter and radiation. Multiple experiences are suggested to favour a progressive construction of knowledge on the physical aspects necessary to understand the greenhouse effect and global warming. Some results obtained with university students are briefly reported.
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