17 articles in this issue
Tracey Madden
Editorial by Tracey Madden
Derek Raine
I became a lecturer in astrophysics by chance. As I was completing my postdoc, looking at how one could do quantum field theory in the presence of gravity, I contacted various departments to see if there were any lectureships going. From departments of ma... see more
Simon Bates,Ross Galloway
We present a review of diagnostic testing in the physical sciences. We cover the motivation for using such instruments and their historical development via a case study of probably the most cited and influential test instrument and application: the Force ... see more
David Sands,Tina Overton
This paper provides and introduction to the literature on cognitive psychology and problem solving in physical sciences. We consider the working memory and its three different components, two of which hold and record information and are controlled by an e... see more
Jordan Balfour,Antje Kohnle
Understanding students? prior beliefs about the nature of the Universe is a first step towards improving astronomy instruction. This article describes results from two diagnostic surveys testing understanding of astronomy concepts given to first, second a... see more
Tom Lemanski,Ruth Mewis,Tina Overton
The term work-based learning is widely used throughout the literature, academia and industry to describe a multiplicity of approaches by which one can learn through work. The complex nature of work-based learning can often lead to confusion when designing... see more
Simon Bates,Keith Brunton
We describe the output from a recently-funded JISC Learning and Teaching Innovation Grant: Electronic Voting Analysis and Feedback for all (EVAF4All). We have created a web-based software tool (EVAF) that allows electronic voting system data captured at t... see more
Graham Wightman
In recent years there has been an increase in the number of students wanting to record lectures. Two factors have contributed to this. Firstly, there is wide availability of compact, solid state recorders, and recorders are often incorporated into other g... see more
Timothy G Harrison,Dudley E Shallcross
There are myriad benefits to science departments that have a public engagement in science portfolio in addition to any recruitment of new undergraduates. These benefits are discussed in this paper and include: improving congruence between A level and firs... see more
David Sands
This paper describes a development project carried out in 2008/9 aimed at developing model-based learning in mechanics for a first year physics module. Based on the work in the literature, VPython, the visual extension to the Python programming language, ... see more
Orla C Kelly,Odilla E Finlayson
This short communication discusses research, which has investigated students? self-perception of their skills. This was to identify which skills they felt most and least confident in upon starting university. General and scientific and practical skills as... see more
Christopher J Andrews,Richard C Brown,Charles KW Harrison,David Reid,Peter L Roach
Lecture capture has been on the minds of university level teachers for some time. The ability to record teaching sessions for delivery online has a number of potential impacts, not all of them positive. The technology now exists to make it feasible and re... see more
Mike Batham,Kate Brashaw,Rob Janes,Ruth Williams
This paper describes the production of multimedia teaching material aimed at working analysts in the water industry who are studying the Open University?s Foundation Degree in Analytical Sciences. In collaboration with staff at Scottish Water, Edinburgh l... see more
Patrick J O’Malley
This article describes innovative use of a Tablet PC and screencasting in delivering chemistry lectures. Introducing such technological innovations as an aid to chemistry lecturing is shown to be of immense benefit to both lecturer and student alike. The ... see more
Lynn Moran
Problem Based Learning (PBL) was introduced into a year 1 module in physics in the University of Liverpool in 2008/09. Mastering Physics (MP) electronic assessment from Pearson was also introduced to support this change. The main alteration was that for t... see more
TG Harrison,AJ Shaw,KL Shallcross,SJ Williams,DE Shallcross
Spectroscopy covers a wide range of analytical techniques, a small sub-set of which UK pre-university chemistry students are required to study. The expense of such equipment means that it is not available to the vast majority of schools whilst it is commo... see more
Karen Moss,Amish Pabari
In every area of science there are some ideas that many students find difficult to grasp. A lack of understanding of key ideas can limit a student?s ability to grasp and apply fundamental principles of their discipline. Previous work in this area, by Tabe... see more