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.     

Teacher use of evidence to customize inquiry science instruction

This study investigated how professional development featuring evidence‐based customization of technology‐enhanced curriculum projects can improve inquiry science teaching and student knowledge integration in earth science. Participants included three middle school sixth‐grade teachers and their classes of students (N = 787) for three consecutive years. Teachers used evidence from their student work to revise the curriculum projects and rethink their teaching strategies. Data were collected through teacher interviews, written reflections, classroom observations, curriculum artifacts, and student assessments. Results suggest that the detailed information about the learning activities of students provided by the assessments embedded in the online curriculum motivated curricular and pedagogical customizations that resulted in both teacher and student learning. Customizations initiated by teachers included revisions of embedded questions, additions of hands‐on investigations, and modifications of teaching strategies. Student performance improved across the three cohorts of students with each year of instructional customization. Coupling evidence from student work with revisions of curriculum and instruction has promise for strengthening professional development and improving science learning. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 1037–1063, 2010     

Supporting Teachers to Customize Curriculum for Self-Directed Learning

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Guiding teachers to customize curriculum has shown to improve science instruction when guided effectively. We explore how teachers use student data to...