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The Institute of Physics is carrying out a project, funded by the British Library, to review information in physics. The approach concentrates on the gathering of quantitative data, and the article presents a first overview of some aspects of the communication system of physics of relevance to documentation. From an overall annual UK R&D budget of £1,000 million, we estimate that about £150 million is allocable to physics, including some three‐quarters of the SRC's budget. Although definition is difficult, we estimate the manpower in physics to be something over 10,000. We briefly consider the involvement of physicists in the documentary part of information flow. Firstly, as producers, or authors, a small study suggests that most members of the Institute do not write papers. Conferences are a major communication channel, but it is likely that out of more than 300 conferences of relevance to physicists held in 1973 in the UK, only fifty will produce specific proceedings. Lastly, past user studies indicate that many physicists carry out their work with little direct, daily use of libraries and information services, although these are obviously an important factor in such research. More ‘non‐user’, ‘non‐author’ etc studies are desirable. The money spent on these services we estimate at around £3 million annually, or 2% of the research budget. These first findings lead to two main conclusions: (i) the cost of library and information services is a negligible proportion of the overall physics budget, and no substantial economies can be made by cuts in them and (ii) documentation may well not play the major role in the communication system. It is only by examining the system as a whole that we can determine the relative importance of each mode of communication and the present and likely future place of documentation.

This study aims to examine the perceptions of students about learning science and physics using the engineering design process (EDP).

The study employed a mixed-methods research design: The quantitative session features a pre–post-test control group study. In the qualitative aspect, the study conducted semistructured interviews for data collection. In the experimental group, the flipped classroom (FC) model and an instructional design are combined to design, develop and implement a physics course using the steps of the EDP, while the conventional method was applied to the control group. The respondents are students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Cao Thang Technical College in Vietnam for the academic year 2022–2023. The control and experimental groups are composed of 80 students each. An independent sample Mann–Whitney U test is applied to the quantitative data, while thematic analysis is employed for the qualitative data.

The results demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of perceptions about learning science and physics using the EDP, which, when combined with a FC, enhances physics learning for engineering students.

This study implemented the EDP in teaching physics to first-year engineering students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering using the combined FC and instructional design models. The results revealed that a difference exists in the perception of the students in terms of integrating the EDP into learning physics between the experimental and control groups. The experimental group, which underwent the EDP, obtained better results than did the control group, which used the conventional method. The results demonstrated that the EDP encouraged the students to explore and learn new content knowledge by selecting the appropriate solution to the problem. The EDP also helped them integrate new knowledge and engineering skills into mechanical engineering. This research also introduced a new perspective on physics teaching and learning using the EDP for engineering college students.

The research findings are important for teaching and learning physics using EDP in the context of engineering education. Thus, educators can integrate the teaching and learning of physics into the EDP to motivate and engage student learning.

Using the EDP combined with a FC designed under stages of the analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate (ADDIE) model has enhanced the learning of physics for engineering college students.

A review of the first year physics laboratory program in 1991 at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) revealed that student laboratory experiences did not: resemble the practice of physicists; give a realistic picture of the contribution of physics to everyday life, or; enhance students’ capabilities of broad value, such as their communication skills. Physics academics at UTS committed themselves to reforming students’ laboratory experiences with inquiry-oriented learning as a center-piece of the reform. This chapter explores the drivers that led to the reconceptualization of the role of the laboratory in the undergraduate curriculum and the strategies and processes we adopted over more than 20 years to embed inquiry-oriented activities into first year physics laboratory programs.

Arnold Arons, along with Robert Karplus, can fairly be called one of the founding fathers of U.S. Physics Education Research and a pioneer of inquiry methods of education. The instructional methods advocated by Arons were influenced by the work of Socrates, Plato, Montaigne, Rousseau, Dewey, Whitehead, and Piaget, but are primarily derived from Arons’ epic half century effort to improve introductory science teaching by shutting up and listening carefully to students’ responses to probing Socratic questions on physics, science, and ways of thinking. Arons emphasized: (1) conceptual understanding, (2) operative knowledge, (3) interactive engagement, (4) Socratic dialogue, (5) attention to cognitive development, (6) attention to preconceptions of beginning students, (7) operational definitions, (8) reduction of volume and pace of standard introductory courses, (9) idea first, name afterward, (10) importance of a course “story line,” and (11) science as a liberal art. Most of these are attributes of enlightened inquiry-based learning as described in Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning (NRC, 2000).

In order to teach science effectively, teachers need a strong background in science content as well as an understanding of productive methods of teaching. This includes inquiry-based learning that will cultivate conceptual development of science concepts with their students. Furthermore, it is imperative to use student-focused activities in high-needs schools to engage all students, particularly students of color, in the learning process. As a result, faculty from the teachHOUSTON Program and the Department of Physics at the University of Houston produced a Physics by Inquiry course to engage middle school and high school preservice teachers in interactive, inquiry-based teaching pedagogies for physics. This chapter provides an overview of the course. It also highlights the benefits of including such a course in a STEM teacher education program.

Collaborations between faculty from the teachHOUSTON program and physics department have led to an increase in the number of highly qualified physics teachers produced by the University of Houston. Faculty were able to systematically build the physics teacher preparation program through the following endeavors: streamlined degree plans, a physics inquiry course, an internship program, a scholarship program, and induction activities for the first three years of their teaching degrees. This has resulted in preparing approximately three physics teachers annually. Prior to this collaboration, the University had not produced any physics teacher graduates in the previous decade.

This paper aims to propose a new concept of product manufacturing mode which takes physical manufacturing theory as the basic starting point. In this work, the authors intend to systematically define the basic connotation and extension of physical manufacturing, and sort out the typical characteristics of physical manufacturing, in order to propose the general concept of physical manufacturing.

How to study the combination of physics, mathematics, mechanics and other disciplines with the manufacturing disciplines, and how to elevate modern manufacturing science to a new height, has always been a problem for scientists in the field of manufacturing and engineering construction people to deeply think about. Therefore, on the basis of tracing the development of physics and combining the attributes and functions of manufacturing, the authors propose the basic concept of physical manufacturing. On this basis, the authors further clarify the connotation and extension, theoretical basis and technical system of physical manufacturing, reveal the basic problem domain of research and construct the theoretical foundation of physical manufacturing research, which are of great theoretical value and practical significance to adjust and optimize the manufacturing industry structure, improve the quality of manufacturing industry development and promote the green development of manufacturing industry.

The research on the basic theory and technical system of physical manufacturing will therefore broaden the way of thinking and make a better understanding of manufacturing science and technology, which will promote the development of manufacturing industry to some extent.

On the basis of continuous improvement of the basic theory and conceptual system of physical manufacturing, the physical manufacturing technology will become more and more perfect; physical manufacturing system and intelligent manufacturing system will become the mainstream of next-generation manufacturing system.

The physics librarian today faces a complex and fast‐moving discipline and an almost overwhelming array of resources. Beginning selectors in physics are often perplexed. How does research in physics proceed? What kinds of information do physicists seek? Where can this information be found and what is the most effective way of providing it? How are increases in costs and volume of publication affecting collecting in physics? What do new technologies and cooperative arrangements have to offer the physics librarian? This essay, directed especially to the novice selector, seeks first to define physics research and the information needs of physics researchers. It then surveys the trends in technology and in the market‐place that are profoundly altering the way we build research collections in physics.

An attempt at unification of different groups of physical phenomena by use of cybernetic methodology in order to avoid a dualism in the formalism of Natural Self‐Regulating Systems (NRS) in now being carried out simultaneously by physics and cybernetics. A proposal is made of a unitary elaboration within a framework of cybernetic physics, which should concern not only events belonging to micro‐ and macro‐physics, but also those which are placed intermediately on the size scale, especially systems organized by the biogenesis phenomena and subjected to the laws of a “Meso‐physics”. The systems that result from this evolutively lend themselves to treatment within the framework of an organic branch, which would be a physics of systems endowed with a multihierarchized architecture and ultra‐complex structure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender stereotype of science by analysing the semantic attributes of gender in relation to three science subjects – chemistry, mathematics, and physics – among students and their science teachers.

This cross-sectional study applied a survey of 3,045 students and 123 teachers in secondary schools. The gendered image of science was assessed using a semantic differential consisting of 25 pairs of adjectives with semantically opposite meanings.

In summary, the results of the study demonstrate that from the female students’ perspective mathematics and physics are negatively related to female gender, whereas chemistry is neither significantly related to the male nor to the female profile. From the male students’ point of view mathematics is negatively related to the female gender, whereas chemistry and physics are positively related to the male gender. In the science teachers’ perception chemistry and physics combine feminine and masculine attributes, whereas the teachers’ perception of mathematics matches only with the male, but not with the female gender.

In contrast to previous research, the study is the first to analyse the gender stereotype of chemistry as well as to assess the gender image of three science subjects from students’ and teachers’ perspectives.