Bhabha’s contributions to elementary particle physics and cosmic rays research

Bhabha’s scientific research contributions are descibed in the context of his life and contemporary science. During the Cambridge period (1927–1939), he worked in positron theory (Bhabha scattering), cosmic rays (Bhabha-Heitler theory of cosmic ray showers, prediction of heavier electrons) and meson theory. In Bangalore during 1939–1945, he worked on classical relativistic spinning particles (Bhabha-Corben equations), meson theory and initiated experimental work in cosmic rays in India. He then founded Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945 at Bombay and moved there. Here he started work on relativistic wave equations (Bhabha equations.). He also initiated India’s nuclear energy programme in 1948 and this was his main preoccupation later.     

Symmetry principles and conservation laws in atomic and subatomic physics — 1

The whole theoretical framework of physics rests only on a few but profound principles. Wigner enlightened us by elucidating that “It is now natural for us to try to derive the laws of nature and to test their validity by means of the laws of invariance, rather than to derive the laws of invariance from what we believe to be the laws of nature.” Issues pertaining to symmetry, invariance principles and fundamental laws challenge the most gifted minds today. These topics require a deep and extensive understanding of both ‘quantum mechanics’ and the ‘theory of relativity’. We attempt in this pedagogical article to present a heuristic understanding of these fascinating relationships based only on rather elementary considerations in classical and quantum mechanics. An introduction to some fundamental considerations regarding continuous symmetries, dynamical symmetries (Part 1), and discrete symmetries (Part 2) (parity, charge conjugation and time-reversal), and their applications in atomic, nuclear and particle physics, will be presented.     

Symmetry principles and conservation laws in atomic and subatomic physics — 2

This article is the second part of our review of the important role that symmetry plays in atomic and subatomic physics. We will concentrate on the discrete symmetries — parity, charge conjugation, and time reversal — that have played a significant part in the development of the ‘standard model’ of particle physics during the latter part of the 20th century. The importance of experimental tests of these symmetries, in both atomic and particle physics, and their sensitivity to new phenomena is also discussed. To conclude, we describe how ‘symmetry breaking’ in the standard model leads to the generation of mass via the Higgs mechanism and how the search for evidence of this symmetry violation is one of the principal goals of the Large Hadron Collider, which began operating at CERN, Switzerland in 2009.     

Nobel Prize in physics — 1997

This year’s Nobel Prize in physics recognises the spectacular progress during the last decade in the cooling and trapping of atoms by the use of laser beams. The techniques exploit basic physical principles with great ingenuity and have very interesting applications in precision measurement and the study of new phenomena.     

A cross-cultural survey of conceptions of energy among elementary school teachers in training — empirical results from Israel and Argentina

How do students in training to be primary school teachers in Argentina and Israel understand the concept of energy? Do they hold correct scientific views that will enable them to instruct their future pupils accurately? Are there fundamental differences between students studying in these different populations? Students’ energy conceptions, expressed on a two-part written questionnaire, showed similarities and differences for Israeli and Argentinean students, as well as for first and second year students in each country. In general, there is a serious discrepancy between both Israeli and Argentinean student teachers’ understanding of energy and the accepted scientific concept. If this fundamental concept is to be used in a correct way in classroom, then every effort must be made to help teachers develop their understanding.     

Small Group Work and Creative Learning——Teaching Experience in Singapore

本文用三部分研讨、实践和评估了小组学习和创造性学习的方法。首先本文讨论了教育的基本理论和目的;其次,通过对两节点型课的描述,揭示了小组学习和创造性学习的关系及成果;最后本文对此方法进行了评估和分析.     

Studentenwerke — Their Work and Their History

Anyone entering college or university today is immediately confronted with a number of new terms. Studentenwerk [student organization] is one of them. Although the Studentenwerke have had an established place in college and university life for a long time and without them a policy of equality of opportunity and an opening up of higher education are inconceivable, only here and there have they so far been able to penetrate public consciousness with their services.     

Work‐based Learning and Universities in the U.K.: a review of current practice and trends

This article is concerned primarily with university‐related work‐based learning in the UK. The authors trace the development of work‐based learning from its early days to the wide variety of styles and scale currently being practised. In the wake of the Dearing Report, they review the experience of work experience and sandwich courses; the move from work experience to work‐based learning; work‐based learning for those in work; and work‐based learning through technological transfer. The authors identify key variables which appear to determine the nature of different styles of work‐based learning including the tension between the twin purposes of international competitiveness and student personal development, and the willingness of the universities to move from their traditional control of the curriculum to allow a greater variety of learning experiences. The authors focus on the emergence of learner‐managed three‐way partnerships between the learner, the university, and the employer based on real‐time, work‐based projects as a way of reconciling economic benefit with personal development as purposes for work‐based learning. The article concludes by identifying some of the key educational issues which such schemes raise and identifies possible future directions in which they might develop.     

Text-based writing in elementary classrooms: teachers’ conceptions and practice

Reading and Writing - Writing analytically about text is a valued skill reflected in current academic standards. The quality of text-based writing opportunities in U.S. elementary schools, however,...     

Grace under Pressure in Ernest Hemingway''''s Life and Work

I.IntroductionErnest Hemingway,one of the greatest Americanwriters,had a troubled and ever-changing life in whichdeath and violence were the main constants.At theage of ten,his father gave him his first shotgun.Fifty-one years later,he shot himself with h…     

The impact of problem-based learning on engineering students’ beliefs about physics and conceptual understanding of energy and momentum

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) on freshmen engineering students’ beliefs about physics and physics learning (referred to as epistemological beliefs) and conceptual understanding of physics. The multiple-choice test of energy and momentum concepts and the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey were used to collect the data. The sample consisted of 142 students enrolled in the PBL and traditional lecture classes in the engineering faculty of a state university in Turkey. The analyses showed that the PBL group obtained significantly higher conceptual learning gains than the traditional group and the change (improvement) in the PBL group students’ beliefs from the pre- to post test were significantly larger than that of the traditional group. The results revealed that beliefs were correlated with conceptual understanding. Suggestions are presented regarding the implementation of the PBL approach.     

Wim Hoppers and Donatus Komba (eds.). 1995. Productive Work in Education and Training – A State-of-the-art in Eastern Africa

International Review of Education -     

Different habitus: different strategies in teaching physics? Relationships between teachers’ social,economic and cultural capital and strategies in teaching physics in upper secondary school

With environmental awareness in the societies of today, political steering documents emphasize that all education should include sustainable development. But it seems to be others competing ideals for teaching physics, or why do the physics teachers teach as they do? Physics teachers in secondary school in Sweden have generally, been focused on facts and a strong link with scientific theories and concepts. In general, the curriculum sway the teaching, a standard text book in physics is used, the teaching is organized according to the book and the teacher deals with and demonstrates typical tasks on the whiteboard and group work is common for special issues related to tasks from the textbook or elaborating. The aim with this study is to analyze why physics teachers in upper secondary school choose to teach energy as they do. Data emerging from a questionnaire focused on indicators of the teachers’ cultural and economic assets, or capital, according to the work of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology. Especially his concept on life styles and habitus provide a tool for analysis. We focus on physics teachers’ positions in the social space, dispositions and standpoints towards the ideal way to teach physics in upper secondary school (n = 268). Our response rate is 29 % and due to the low response rate a non response bias analysis was made. In our analysis we primarily sought for groups, with a cluster analysis based on the teaching practice, revealed common features for both what and how they teach and three different teaching types emerged. Then we reconstructed the group habitus of the teachers by analyzing dispositions and standpoints and related those to the specific polarization of sacred values, that is struggles about the natural order (doxa) in the social space of science education, which is a part of and has boundaries to dominating fields like the natural sciences and the political fields (curriculum etc.). Three teacher-groups’ habituses are described and analyzed; (1) The Manager of the Traditional, (2) The Challenger for Technology and (3) The Challenger for Citizenship. By constructing the habitus of the teachers in the different groups we can explain why teachers teach as they do and thereby make a contribution to both science education research and to teaching training, whereas reflective approach which also includes the individual dispositions and representations are paramount. In our paper we elaborate the grounds and implications of these findings further.     

Graduate Social Work Students’ Experiences with Group Work in the Field and the Classroom

For decades, group work scholars have described a discrepancy between student preparation for group work practice and opportunities to work with groups in the field practicum and professional practice. Educators in related disciplines such as counseling and psychology have expressed similar concerns. This article reports findings of a study of MSW students in a program that includes a practice methods specialization in group work. The purpose was to determine the prevalence of group assignments among all students regardless of their method specialization. A majority of all respondents reported substantial opportunities to practice group work and receive appropriate supervision. Opportunities for majors in group work were significantly greater than for their non-group work counterparts. However, a majority of all students did not feel classes prepared them for group practice. Findings suggest social work must renew its commitment to preparing all students for this practice modality.     

Conservation laws for energy and momentum in curved spaces

In arbitrary Riemannian 4-spaces, continuity equations are constructed which could be interpreted as conservation laws for the energy and momentum of the gravitational field. Special attention is given to general relativity to obtain, of natural manner, the pseudotensors of Einstein, Landau-Lifshitz, Mller, Goldberg and Stachel, and also the conservation equations of Komar, Trautman, DuPlessis and Moss.     

Patterns of participation and discourse in elementary students’ computer-supported collaborative learning

The goal of the investigation was to analyze patterns of participation and discourse mediated by Virtual Web School (VWS). Twenty-three fifth-grade students participated in the study. The findings showed that the density of interaction among participants was high, and all the participants used VWS to some extent. There were, however, substantial differences in the participants’ participation activity and their position in the network of VWS-mediated interaction. The study also showed that the VWS-mediated discussion was not sustained, but instead comprised a number of short discussion threads. Although over half of the participants’ postings were focused on class-learning topics, much needs to be improved in the quality of their discussion.     

Mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy in elementary pre‐service teachers

This study investigated the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teacher efficacy among 156 elementary pre‐service teachers from a university in the southeastern United States. Data sources included the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument, and pre‐service teacher interviews. Findings revealed a significant, negative relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics teachers’ efficacy (r = ?.475, p<.05). Specifically, the pre‐service teachers with the lowest degree of mathematics anxiety had the highest levels of mathematics teacher efficacy. Interviews with pre‐service teachers indicated that their mathematics anxiety is associated with efficaciousness toward mathematics teaching practices and is the basis for their mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs.