Ann-Marie Pendrill
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View article: Shining light on quantum phenomena through a levitated water droplet
Shining light on quantum phenomena through a levitated water droplet Open
Modeling the hydrogen atom is often considered an essential milestone in an introductory quantum mechanics course. Mathematically, the instructional path is clear: from the square potential well, through the harmonic potential, the three-d…
View article: Drama in Quantum Physics Teaching—Following Uncle Albert and Alice into Quantumland
Drama in Quantum Physics Teaching—Following Uncle Albert and Alice into Quantumland Open
Quantum mechanics has been enormously successful. The equations and rules enable accurate calculations and predictions of energies and other properties of atoms, molecules, and materials. Quantum-physics-based technology is an integrated p…
View article: Educational research in physics teacher education: the role of mathematics in physics teaching
Educational research in physics teacher education: the role of mathematics in physics teaching Open
Do student teachers benefit from contact with research, as required in our national teacher education curriculum? This paper describes the experiences of two pre-service teachers, who learned about common challenges encountered in the inte…
View article: The Coriolis effect and coupled oscillations in a rotating swings amusement ride
The Coriolis effect and coupled oscillations in a rotating swings amusement ride Open
Rotating swings are found in many different versions in parks around the world. They are beautiful examples of the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass: empty swings and swings with heavy adults hang at the same angle to the…
View article: With an infrared camera in an amusement park: heating and cooling of magnetic brakes
With an infrared camera in an amusement park: heating and cooling of magnetic brakes Open
A handheld infrared camera was used to visualize heating and cooling of magnetic brakes in drop towers and roller coasters. The images also display the cooling effect of trees and the warming effect of clouds. This paper discusses what can…
View article: Content, interest and the role of engagement: experienced science teachers discuss
Content, interest and the role of engagement: experienced science teachers discuss Open
How do science teachers perceive student engagement and its importance for teaching and what strategies do they use to create it? When 21 experienced science teachers in 4 focus groups discussed these questions, they brought up behavioural…
View article: Round and round in circles—shifting relevance structures as students discuss acceleration and forces during circular motion in a vertical plane
Round and round in circles—shifting relevance structures as students discuss acceleration and forces during circular motion in a vertical plane Open
Working out the relations between the forces involved in circular motion in a vertical plane can be challenging for first-year students, as illustrated in this analysis of a 30 min group discussion of a textbook problem where a remote-cont…
View article: Accelerating a car from rest: friction, power and forces
Accelerating a car from rest: friction, power and forces Open
The directions of frictional forces for bodies in motion are conceptually challenging. Students may be able to provide a correct solution using only calculus without drawing free-body diagrams. This can make their misconceptions go unnotic…
View article: Serious Physics on a Playground Swing—With Toys, Your Own Body, and a Smartphone
Serious Physics on a Playground Swing—With Toys, Your Own Body, and a Smartphone Open
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View article: ChatGPT and the frustrated Socrates
ChatGPT and the frustrated Socrates Open
We present a case study of a conversation between ourselves and an artificial intelligence-based chatbot ChatGPT. We asked the chatbot to respond to a basic physics question that will be familiar to most physics teachers: ‘ A teddy bear is…
View article: Arcs on speedskating straightaways: forces, energy and angular momentum
Arcs on speedskating straightaways: forces, energy and angular momentum Open
The 10 000 m speedskating event during the 2022 winter Olympics brought a new world record at 12 min and 30.74 s. In a document released after the competitions, the gold medalist Nils van der Poel describes his technique, including a focus…
View article: Comment on ‘Pendulum: the partial and global approach’
Comment on ‘Pendulum: the partial and global approach’ Open
The paper Pendulum: the partial and global approach combines a historic introduction to the theoretical treatment of pendulum motion with presentation of data from measurements on a single pendulum. This comment focuses on the presentation…
View article: From skating rink to physics assignment—viewing a photo from a mechanics perspective
From skating rink to physics assignment—viewing a photo from a mechanics perspective Open
Circular motion changes the perception of up and down. For a skater, the need to lean in towards the centre of an arc constitutes an embodiment of centripetal acceleration. This paper presents a discussion between a physicist and a high-sc…
View article: Teacher interventions and student strategies for circular motion problems: a matrix representation
Teacher interventions and student strategies for circular motion problems: a matrix representation Open
Students’ understanding of forces in circular motion is often incomplete. The problems are not limited to confusions about centripetal acceleration and centrifugal forces. This paper considers possible effects of different interventions by…
View article: Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks
Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks Open
There are many laws of physics involved in the design and operation of roller coasters, carousels, and other amusement rides. Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks teaches these concepts in an exciting and approacha…
View article: The cooling of a swede—part of an EUSO CSI challenge
The cooling of a swede—part of an EUSO CSI challenge Open
This paper presents preparations, execution and reflection on results for the physics part of a CSI task for the European Union Science Olympiad 2010, taking place at the University of Gothenburg. The participants were required to make a g…
View article: Front Matter
Front Matter Open
There are many laws of physics involved in the design and operation of roller coasters, carousels, and other amusement rides. Physics for the Whole Body in Playgrounds and Amusement Parks teaches these concepts in an exciting and approacha…
View article: Teaching with Google Classroom
Teaching with Google Classroom Open
The use of digital tools in education is subject to debate in school as well as in wider society. This motivates studies on the potential of these tools to facilitate teaching and learning. One of the digital tools being used is Google Cla…
View article: Reply to Comment on ‘Forces on hockey players: vectors, work, energy and angular momentum’
Reply to Comment on ‘Forces on hockey players: vectors, work, energy and angular momentum’ Open
Bracko has commented on our paper ‘forces on hockey players: vectors, work, energy and angular momentum’and refers to extensive studies on skaters using traditional techniques. We note that results based on one skating technique, such as a…
View article: Balls rolling down a playground slide: What factors influence their motion?
Balls rolling down a playground slide: What factors influence their motion? Open
Take a selection of balls and marbles along to a nearby playground slide and let students investigate factors that may influence how balls accelerate down an inclined plane. Students can make hypotheses in small groups, plan investigations…
View article: Jerk within the Context of Science and Engineering—A Systematic Review
Jerk within the Context of Science and Engineering—A Systematic Review Open
Rapid changes in forces and the resulting changes in acceleration, jerk and higher order derivatives can have undesired consequences beyond the effect of the forces themselves. Jerk can cause injuries in humans and racing animals and induc…
View article: Is the Archimedes principle a law of nature? Discussions in an ‘extended teacher room’
Is the Archimedes principle a law of nature? Discussions in an ‘extended teacher room’ Open
Is a suction cup at the bottom of a bathtub subject to an upward force from the surrounding water, even if there is no water under it? A student question, posted in a teacher facebook group on a Monday morning, led to a discussion involvin…
View article: Velocity, acceleration, jerk, snap and vibration: forces in our bodies during a roller coaster ride
Velocity, acceleration, jerk, snap and vibration: forces in our bodies during a roller coaster ride Open
Changing acceleration and forces are part of the excitement of a roller coaster ride. According to Newton’s second law, , every part of our body must be exposed to a force to accelerate. Since our bodies are not symmetric, the direc…
View article: Virtual reality, video screen shots and sensor data for a large drop tower ride
Virtual reality, video screen shots and sensor data for a large drop tower ride Open
Large drop towers let you experience a couple of seconds of nearly free fall before stopping gracefully in magnetic brakes or bouncing a number of times on compressed air, as in the Turbo Drop tower considered in this work, where many comp…
View article: Programming and its affordances for physics education: A social semiotic and variation theory approach to learning physics
Programming and its affordances for physics education: A social semiotic and variation theory approach to learning physics Open
The paper describes a theoretical analysis of programming and what it offers in terms of the meaning-making process. It finds that programming provide opportunity to iterate, to visualise and to perform transductions. Each affordance has b…
View article: Programming as a semiotic system to support physics students’ construction of meaning: A pilot study
Programming as a semiotic system to support physics students’ construction of meaning: A pilot study Open
Programming as a tool to be used for analyzing and exploring physics in an educational setting offers an unprecedented opportunity for the students to create and explore their own semiotic resources. Students may use programming to create …
View article: Smartphones and Newton’s first law in escalators and roller coasters
Smartphones and Newton’s first law in escalators and roller coasters Open
Your body is not a point particle. The nature and direction of the forces counteracting gravity influence your experience of uniform rectilinear motion—as does your own orientation in relation to the force of gravity. Sensors in smartphone…
View article: Students making sense of motion in a vertical roller coaster loop
Students making sense of motion in a vertical roller coaster loop Open
Describing the motion in a vertical roller coaster loop requires a good understanding of Newton’s laws, vectors and energy transformation. This paper describes how first-year students try to make sense of force and acceleration in this exa…
View article: Training teachers to use playgrounds in physics teaching
Training teachers to use playgrounds in physics teaching Open
Climbing racks, carousels, swings and slides can be used for many experiments and demonstrations that offer suprising results, often challenging students’ understanding of motion. This paper describes activities used in professional develo…