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For nearly two decades, augmented reality (AR) has found diverse applications in education, particularly in science education, where its efficacy has been supported by relevant theories and many empirical studies. However, previous studies have revealed the following research deficit: While AR technology appears to influence learning-related variables, at the time of this study only few research on the use of AR glasses in physics, a discipline for which this technology seems particularly promising in the context of laboratory experiments, has been found. Thus, the present study uses an experimental comparison group design to investigate the question of how the use of AR glasses in a physics laboratory experiment (compared to in a learning setting without AR) influences students' motivation to learn, their cognitive load during the learning process and their learning achievement. The study (sample size N = 75) investigated the impact of AR glasses in a physics laboratory experiment on optical polarization. Results align with prior research, indicating heightened motivation among learners using AR applications. However, the absence of a significant difference in cognitive load between AR and non-AR learners was unexpected. Despite expectations based on spatial contiguity, learners with AR showed no advantage in learning achievement, challenging existing meta-analyses in physics education. These findings suggest a need to shift focus from surface features, like specific AR technology, to the content design of AR applications. Future studies should analyze the deep structure of AR applications, identifying features conducive to learning.

The field of geometrical optics features a broad knowledge base concerning conceptual learning difficulties and student conceptions. However, in contrast to other areas of physics, no widely used standard test instrument exists to assess middle school students' conceptual knowledge of geometrical optics. This is even more true for other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. For this reason, a concept test was developed for an intervention study to collect preconceptions about visible light as well as preconceptions about infrared radiation in the subject area of reflection and transmission. A pilot study with 108 middle school students preceded final revisions and implementation in the main study of 820 learners aged 12-16. The measurement model is presented for the developed concept test with the subscales 'preconceptions and knowledge about reflection and transmission in visible optics', 'preconceptions and knowledge about reflection and transmission in infrared optics' and 'applied knowledge on reflection and transmission in visible and infrared optics'. The results show that the concept test validly captures the development of preconceptions and knowledge regarding specific aspects of reflection and transmission of the part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 3 µm to 380 nm.

HOBIT, which stands for "Hybrid Optical Bench for Innovative Teaching and learning" is an educational platform that leverages the combination of numerical simulation and physical manipulation to facilitate learning of complex phenomena and motivate users about wave optics in practical work. HOBIT operates in real time and is self-adaptive, providing realistic displays of optical phenomena with virtual augmentations designed to facilitate their understanding. HOBIT makes it quick and easy to build any reconfigurable optical experiment. Students can manipulate optical components and observe the changes induced on detectors and displays. We detail the technology, the simulation model and the initial teaching aids. Current and future enhancements should meet the needs of students at different levels, from high school to higher education degrees.

Clear and rigorous quantum reasoning is needed to explain quantum physical phenomena. As pillars of true quantum physical explanations, we suggest specific quantum reasoning derived from quantum physical key ideas. An experiment is suggested to support such a quantum reasoning, in which a quantized radiation field interacts with an optical beam splitter, leading to experimental results conflicting with classical physical predictions. The results, however, can be explained consistently with a quantum reasoning based on the key ideas of probability, superposition, and interference (PSI). In this quantum optical key experiment the optical beam splitter prepares a superposition of single photon states and a Michelson interferometer is used to detect the superposition via controlled propagation phases. Although different single photon experimental setups (aimed at helping students to gain access to foundational issues in quantum physics) have been discussed in the past, the wave-particle dualism bound to classical physics maintains its predominance as an explanation pattern for the interpretation of these experiments. The study presented here investigates the effect of the quantum optical key experiment on the ability of students to use quantum reasoning based on the key ideas of PSI to overcome the naive wave-particle dualism. The current state of relevant studies that test student access to quantum physics can roughly be divided into two distinct areas: one tests how mathematical abilities help them to understand quantum physics and one tests how nonmathematical representations of a set of specific quantum theoretical traits ("Wesenszüge") lead to a deeper understanding of quantum physics. There is a lack of questionnaires that focus on the idea of developing quantum reasoning based on superposition, probability, and interference of quantum states combined with a real experiment using true quantum light. In the first part of the article, we describe the physical modeling and present the development of the questionnaire. The set of items has been constructed from newly developed items and combined with well-tested ones. The validation of the set addresses qualitative and quantitative methods. In the second part, we give a pre- and poststudy examination of the impact of the quantum optical key experiment on students' quantum reasoning. A significant increase in the number of students using quantum arguments is based on PSI reasoning for the explanation of an interference, such as the behavior of single photon states. Though the increase is significant, we found only minor changes in a particular issue to the students' reasoning when approaching quantum physics as illustrated by a sample of answers given in the second part of the article. The concept of quantum states and the principle of superposition still appear particularly difficult.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] This manuscript presents a case study of an introductory physics student who, during the remote learning conditions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, found inspiration within a new, open-inquiry, project-based, laboratory curriculum designed at Portland State University. The phenomenon investigated by the study subject was intriguing to both the student and the lab instructors for its unfamiliar and instructive optical effect: a ring-shaped pattern or halo created by a laser diffusely reflected in a shallow body of water. Drawing on classwork and interview responses, this study shows that the subject achieved many expected curriculum outcomes, particularly with respect to experimental design and data analysis tasks, indicating that the course's open-inquiry structure can be effective while offering students a free choice of what to investigate in a laboratory class. Additionally, the case study shows that the halo phenomenon is pedagogically rich as it combines refraction, diffuse reflection, and total internal reflection in a nontrivial way, thereby answering calls by physics education researchers for more complex, realistic examples in geometric optics instruction. Finally, this case also highlights challenges students may experience interpreting diffuse reflection and determining the position of optical features beyond image formation, not commonly a focus of introductory physics courses, textbooks, and education research.

Wave optics is a mandatory part of Croatian secondary school physics curriculum for students in the final year of secondary school (age 18-19). Many physics education research studies have shown that it is a difficult physics topic for both university and secondary school students. An inquiry-based teaching sequence on wave optics, designed for eight 45-min teaching periods, was developed by the authors. The sequence included four investigative students' experiments on the topics of interference, diffraction, and polarization of light, as well as several teacher demonstrations. The experimental group included six classes of students from six different Croatian urban secondary schools, who underwent the teaching intervention with the new inquiry-based sequence on wave optics, whereas the control group consisted of six classes from the same schools, taught in a predominantly lecturing way. Both groups were post-tested with the same instrument, the Conceptual Survey on Wave Optics (CSWO), to evaluate the research hypothesis that the new sequence might improve students' conceptual understanding better than the traditional teaching. The results of the experimental and control groups were analyzed and compared using the Rasch analysis. The results show that the experimental group outperformed the control group in four out of five conceptual areas probed by the CSWO, suggesting that the new inquiry-based teaching sequence may contribute to stronger development of secondary school students' conceptual understanding of wave optics, especially concerning typical wave optics patterns, reasoning from experiments, and explaining basic wave optics phenomena. A questionnaire on attitudes toward the teaching intervention was administered to students and it was found that students generally liked the inquiry-based teaching intervention and expressed positive attitudes to interactive, experimental, and collaborative aspects of physics teaching. The results are very promising, but their generalization may be limited by the selection of the students, as well as by the short duration of the teaching intervention and the relatively small breadth of the covered topics.

Researchers have expressed concern about the state of STEM education. To improve this situation, new pedagogies, such as blended learning, have been proposed and tested. The last decade has seen an increase in the use of blended learning to support learning; however, the effect of blended learning on learning remains unclear and often mixed. The two studies in this paper draw on data from pre-university science students in the following courses: (1) Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) and (2) Waves, Optics & Modern Physics (Waves). In study 1, the treatment group (blended learning coupled with two-stage quizzes & peer formative feedback) performed significantly higher than the control group (lecture format with online homework & instant feedback) in the standardized final exam. In contrast, in study 2, there was a non-significant main effect of groups, indicating that the treatment group (blended learning with online homework & instant feedback) and the control group (lecture format with online homework & instant feedback) performed similarly in the standardized final exam. The finding of study 1 suggests that the effect of an instructional pedagogical framework embedded in a blended learning context improves performance in STEM education. Whereas the finding of study 2 suggests that a blended learning context without incorporating any instructional framework or support for cognition other than the lecture is comparable to a traditional face-to-face course.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of teaching through a virtual laboratory prepared using simulations teaching materials and that are based on constructivist thought about geometrical optics upon the students' academic success and their attitudes towards physics. Quasi-experimental pretest and posttest control groups was used as the research method. While the independent variable of the study is teaching method that is based on virtual laboratory application, the dependents variables are students' success at physics lesson and their attitude towards physics. The study was carried out with 59 students from the same grade but a different section and taking Physics II lesson that is taught in Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies in the spring term of 2013 and 2014 academic year. One of the sections was objectively determined as the experimental group and the other one is determined as the control group. The subject was taught to 29 students in the experimental group in a virtual laboratory environment which was created using simulations, and 30 students in the control group was taught the same subject in a traditional laboratory environment. As a result in this study, it was seen that teaching in the virtual laboratory environment where simulations were used in the subject of Geometrical Optics was more affective in physics success than teaching in traditional laboratory environment but there was no meaningful difference in attitudes towards physics.

In this paper, we described the development of the High School Wave Optics Test (HSWOT). Firstly, 56 conceptual, multiple-choice items with a single correct answer and three distractors were created. Next, we conducted an initial review of the items which resulted in reducing the item pool to 44 highest quality items. Validity evidence and feedback on the quality of these 44 items were collected through an expert survey and small-scale item try-out which included 3 subject-matter experts and 13 high school students, respectively. This process helped us to reduce our item pool to 30 technically improved conceptual items, which were eventually administered to 164 high-school students, from Kazakhstan. Finally, a Rasch analysis of the students' answers resulted in a 24-item scale for measuring conceptual understanding in high-school students. The item reliability proved to be good, person reliability was acceptable, and the difficulty of items was approximately person-independent. All distractors were chosen by at least 5% of students and 8 distracters were chosen by more than 35% of students. We could conclude that HSWOT may be effectively used for measuring conceptual understanding in advanced high-school physics courses and for identifying students' misconceptions in wave optics, in general.

A smartphone is a powerful learning aid in the hands of a large section of students around the world. The camera of the phone can be used for several learning purposes apart from its obvious purpose of photographing. If the focal length of the lens of the camera can be determined, several experiments in optics can be performed with it. In some recent works, the method for determination of the focal length has been discussed. When a real image of an object is formed by a lens of known focal length, one can determine either the distance or the transverse magnification of the object if the other is known. In this work, we have shown that we can determine both the transverse size and the distance of an object, by photographing it from two positions, separated by a distance along the line of sight of the camera. In a few other works, the smartphone camera has been used for conducting experiments in optics.

As quantum information science and technology (QIST) is becoming more prevalent and occurring not only in research labs but also in industry, many educators are considering how best to incorporate learning about quantum mechanics into various levels of education. Although much of the focus has been on quantum concepts in nonlab courses, current work in QIST has a substantial experimental component. Many instructors of undergraduate lab courses want to provide their students the opportunity to work with quantum experiments. One common way this is done is through a sequence of quantum optics experiments often referred to as the "single-photon experiments." These experiments demonstrate fundamental quantum phenomena with equipment common to research labs; however, they are resource intensive and cannot be afforded by all institutions. It is therefore imperative to know what unique affordances these experiments provide to students. As a starting point, we surveyed and interviewed instructors who use the single-photon experiments in undergraduate courses, asking how and why they use the experiments. We describe the most commonly used experiments in both quantum and beyond-first-year lab courses, the prevalence of actions the students perform, and the learning goals, ranging from conceptual knowledge to lab skills to student affect. Finally, we present some strategies from these data demonstrating how instructors have addressed the common challenges of preparing students to work with conceptually and technically complex experiments and balancing the practice of technical skills with the completion of the experiments.

Problem-solving is an essential part of teaching, learning, and assessment of physics and mathematics. The continuing educational reforms have a deep impact on everyday teaching as well as working with talented students. In the Macedonian educational system, the curricula do not explicitly point out the connection between mathematics and physics, but findings show that if the students do not understand the connection, they have problems adopting the knowledge. The gap that appears in applying geometry subsists even among talented students. When solving problems of geometrical optics, besides physics, it is inevitable that students use the standard geometrical apparatus. Even when the basics of physics are well known, possible mathematical mistakes often lead to wrong results in the given problems in physics. Here we demonstrate such an example of a selected problem from Macedonian state competitions in physics. The case study investigates two samples of students, 18 primary school students and 67 high school students, involved in State physics competitions in the year 2016. The selected problems have similar demands.

Demonstration interviews with 27 high school students (18-19 years old) were conducted in Zagreb, Croatia, using several standard experiments on interference and diffraction of light. Students were asked for their predictions, observations, and explanations of the experiments. In this process, many student difficulties were identified, both regarding their understanding of interference and diffraction of light, but also regarding their skills of systematic observation and description of experimental patterns. The observed difficulties were analyzed in the resource-based model, suggesting the activation of some p prims, as well as other cognitive resources in the process of students' attempts to predict, describe, and explain the interference and diffraction patterns.

In many introductory physics classes, diffraction of light is introduced first, then more advanced diffraction topics such as x-ray diffraction, Bragg's law, and crystallography are covered. Since using x-rays raises safety concerns and atomic spacing in a crystal is not easy to change, microwaves with macroscopic crystals have been used to study Bragg's law in the undergraduate laboratory. A number of scientific supply companies, including PASCO and 3B Scientific, sell 10-GHz microwave optics systems. However, using these systems within the parameters of the manufacturer's procedure for a Bragg diffraction lab poses some challenges. First, the receiver and transmitter must be manually positioned, making the data collection process slow. Second, the microwaves should be plane waves and the receiver should be located beyond the far-field limit. These 10-GHz microwave optics systems are low power, making them safe for lab use, but this limits the crystal size and working distance between the transmitter and receiver to under 1000 mm. The experimental setup suggested by the manufacturer separates the transmitter and receiver by about 10 wavelengths from the center of rotation. While the bells on the transmitter and receiver help with producing plane waves, it is expected that ideal conditions for Bragg's law are not completely fulfilled. Indeed, the experiment guide warns of errors up to 15% and unexplained peaks in the data.

The invariance of the speed of light is one of the foundational pillars of our current understanding of the universe. It implies a series of consequences related to our perception of simultaneity and, ultimately, of time itself. Whereas these consequences are experimentally well studied in the case of subluminal motion, the kinematics of superluminal motion lack direct evidence or even a clear experimental approach. We investigate kinematic effects associated with the superluminal motion of a light source. By using high-temporal-resolution imaging techniques, we directly demonstrate that if the source approaches an observer at superluminal speeds, the temporal ordering of events is inverted and its image appears to propagate backward. Moreover, for a source changing its speed and crossing the interface between subluminal and superluminal propagation regions, we observe image pair annihilation and creation, depending on the crossing direction. These results are very general and show that, regardless of the emitter speed, it is not possible to unambiguously determine the kinematics of an event from imaging and time-resolved measurements alone. This has implications not only for light, but also, for example, for sound and other wave phenomena.

Refraction is a foundational concept within introductory physics. Physics students need a deep understanding of refraction, including Snell's Law, in order to progress towards more complex optics topics such as lenses and images. Unfortunately, many physics students obtain only a superficial understanding of refraction. Although many students can use Snell's Law to perform basic calculations, the mathematical relationship is often divorced from students' conceptual knowledge, which often harbours misconceptions. In this article, we describe a sequence of instructional activities that we have used in an introductory optics course that aims to address common issues of students' learning of optics. Instead of leading with Snell's Law and emphasising calculations, the instructional sequence places conceptual understanding in the foreground. Mathematical representations are introduced only after students have developed a conceptual foundation; in this way, mathematics becomes integrated with students' conceptual understanding rather than existing apart from it. After describing the instructional sequence, we present the impacts of instruction on student thinking and also suggest potential applications of the instructional principles that guided our decision-making.

Diffraction refers to a kind of optical phenomena which occurs when light approaches an element (object or aperture) whose features are in the range of the illuminating wavelength (small apertures, sharp edges). It can be explained by means of the undulatory nature of light or also geometrically by using simple ray optics. Diffraction phenomena are impressive and not intuitive, so it makes them very interesting to bring examples to the classroom. The most popular diffraction experiments show effects in Fraunhofer regime, that is to be said, far from the diffractive object. Common examples are the single or double slit experiments. In this manuscript, we propose and show a less common diffractive effect that occurs in the Fresnel regime, near to the diffractive object. It is the Talbot effect or self-imaging phenomenon, which appears by illuminating a diffraction grating with a collimated monochromatic beam. It consists of the apparition of replicas (self-images) of the grating intensity pattern at periodic distances, multiples of the so-called Talbot distance. We show how this effect may be shown into the classroom with cheap and easy to find elements. In addition, we take advantage of its dependence on the coherence degree of the source to introduce the concept of optical coherence and show its effect on the contrast of the Talbot self-images. These experiments could be appropriate for undergraduate students or introductory physics courses.

An essential goal for physics and optical science instructors is to encourage students to find excitement and beauty in physical and optical phenomena while helping them learn the theoretical concepts and conducting experiments that can test the validity of the concepts. Such motivation largely relies on realistic hands-on lab opportunities where students can interact with physics-based phenomena as well as their corresponding laws and principles. Virtual simulation and modeling tools provide a great alternative to deliver interactive experiences when participating in physical lab environments is limited or unavailable (i.e., during distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The use of computer-based simulations can improve students' ability to make predictions and explain the phenomena practiced in the experiments. The educational value of virtual labs has been extensively investigated and reported, showing that students who use simulated equipment outperformed their peers.

It is often necessary to enrich the teaching environment in order for students to learn optics in depth and to interpret the real optical situations with the information they have learned. In this study, a virtual teaching environment was developed using by Algodoo, a 2D simulation software. An eye model was created in order to explain the formation of the image in the eye in the teaching environment. Also, a cactus type light source model has also been developed to demonstrate that the image can be created in optics by using rays other than special rays. In order to show the success of the virtual teaching environment in modelling, previously known situations that the students had difficulty in understanding were simulated. Finally, some suggestions were made about the use of the virtual teaching environment.

The Arduino board and its communication with several sensors are becoming more and more popular in the physical science community. They offer inspiring possibilities for learning different physical concepts. In this article, we focused on creating a very practical educational system for experimenting with diffraction of laser light and graphically visualizing the distribution of light intensity in space, which is impossible to perform it with the devices available in the educational laboratories of physics. The main elements of this configuration are the Arduino UNO microcontroller board, the BH1750 sensor and the NEMA17 motor and its A4990 driver. The results' graph is displayed in real time on the computer using the Data Streamer add-in. We see that the abbreviated curve corresponds well to the theory. In addition, feedback from the participants in the test activity of the device showed that they were satisfied with its operation and its contribution to the understanding of diffraction. Therefore, we believe that the device presented can play a very important role in the diffraction phenomenon learning because of its high precision and reliability in the measurements.

Science teaching in general and physics teaching in particular often fail to meet the challenges of motivating and engaging learners. Consequently, students do not adequately understand concepts, leading to the poor acquisition of expected practical skills. In response to this need, we conducted a study to document physics teachers' instructional practices and students' learning environments in Rwandan secondary schools. We used the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM to collect data. For three months, we observed 34 geometric optics lessons for nine Senior-4 Physics teachers and 28 physical optics lessons for seven senior-5 Physics teachers. The results indicate that learner-learner active engagement during group work takes 19% of a 2 min time interval. In comparison, learner-teacher active engagement during teacher guide and questioning take 36.8% and 46.5% of a 2 min time interval, respectively. How teachers and students spend time on each classroom activity was analysed, and recommendations for student engagement were also discussed.

Why does a raindrop on a window pane show an image of the environment that is turned upside-down? And why does vision go blurry underwater, but is perfectly clear with diving goggles? Our everyday life is rich in optical phenomena. Unfortunately, these phenomena often play a subordinate role in Optics teaching, compared to ray constructions or mechanistic light models. In our new teaching-learning sequence designed for introductory physics courses at secondary schools, the observation of the phenomena assumes a more prominent position and the observer's sense of sight becomes the starting point of learning about Optics. The centrepiece of our concept is the use of students' self-made Optics inventory including liquid lenses in various experiments.

Students are introduced to the term wavelength in optics at school level. In this paper, we present an inexpensive and simple method to measure the wavelength of the light of a light emitting diode using a light depending resistor. This experimental set-up is developed at Science Laboratory, Nehru Planetarium (Mumbai), India. It is useful as an experimental tool to teach the concepts of light in a simpler way.

Animations are widely used in today's science classrooms. Therefore it is very important to explore under which conditions animations are most effective. In earlier studies it has been generally shown that the effectiveness of instruction largely depends on management of cognitive load. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of Physlet animations, printed sequences of selected animation frames and traditionally presented static pictures on understanding about lenses and levels of cognitive load. According to the results of a quasi-experiment that included forty nine high-school students, Physlet-based teaching generally leads to higher germane load and consequently to more effective learning than the traditional approach. Particularly high levels of germane load have been found for Physlet-based problems. These findings can be accounted for by the interactivity feature of Physlets.

Multilingual skills tend to be an integral part of modern society because a specialist able to speak, read and write in multi-languages is able to meet competition. Given that all the latest discoveries and achievements in the field of natural science have been published in English, in accordance with the theme of our study, Physics teaching in English becomes one of the topical issues. However, experience has proven that a few students realize the importance of language integrated learning (LIL) that was confirmed by statistical data from questionnaire made among students of specialties 5?060400 and 5?011000-Physics, the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University. Realizing the value of gained knowledge is directly related to the motivation and result of learning process. It is assumed that the solution to this problem lies in the competitive organization of language integrated learning in teaching namely in appropriate choice of teaching methods. This is valuable in the context of modern practice-oriented understanding of learning. These technologies include the ICT and case study method which help to change the students' meaning of how the foreign language important from the point of view of their proficiency that was confirmed by statistical data. Some methodological aspects of the use of ICT and case-study in language integrated teaching as well as mechanisms of interdisciplinary coordination and cooperation between English teachers and Physics teachers that both contributed to the ICT and case-study integration in language integrated teaching as well as it is valuable for further research in this area. The staff of the Chair of Physics at the Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University creates close ties worldwide and conducts extensive work in this direction. The theoretical and experimental studies that were carried out convincingly prove the need introduce into the educational process an innovative methods in the educational process as a case study and ICT for the formation of creativity of University students.

This study was conducted in order to analyze the relation between analytical thinking skill and scientific argumentation in physics learning. The study was conducted with the interactive CK 12 simulation about optics. The sample of the study consists of 28 randomly selected students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The data was collected using pre and post-test after learning in the class. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistic instruments along with t-test, MANOVA test and Correlation Analysis. Research findings show that analytical thinking skill and scientific argumentation of the students are rather low. Problem based learning with web based simulation can enhance student's scientific argumentation and analytical thinking skill. Also, the correlation analysis conducted to determine the relationship between analyses analytical thinking skill and scientific argumentation. The results indicate that there is a statistical significant relationship between the analytical thinking skill and scientific argumentation.

In this work, we report the development of a low-cost Arduino-controlled device for didactic activities in light polarization. The main body of the prototype was designed and produced using laser-cut medium density fibreboard parts, including gears and pulleys. As a light source and detector, a 532 nm laser pointer and a light dependent resistor were used, respectively. The moving parts (light source and detector) are controlled using a stepper motor (28BYJ-48) with the ULN2003 driver. The apparatus was tested with glass and plastic (polystyrene) slides. The results show that the prototype can distinguish between parallel and perpendicular polarization (to the plane of incidence). In addition, it is demonstrated that the prototype can be satisfactorily applied to determine the Brewster's angle, even for solids with close refractive indexes.

The article describes a methodology for studying Fresnel diffraction with the active involvement of students in discussing the results of a demonstration experiment. To create a clearly visible model of Fresnel zones, a centimeter radio wave range was chosen, in which the first zone is about 10 cm in size. This makes visible the created combinations of open and closed sections of the wavefront and allows students to predict the results of demonstrations. To maintain the cognitive activity of students, the method of creating and resolving educational contradictions, problem situations is used.

Quantum technology is an emerging field of physics and engineering and important applications are expected in quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum cryptography, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology. Thus the need for education in this field is increasing, while still remaining challenging. While the need for basic education in quantum physics is accepted in many countries, the possibilities still are limited. Concerning fundamental topics such as the superposition principle and complementarity, on the one hand, a large variety of simulations and animations are available. However, single-photon experiments are still beyond reach for any school, due to costs and technical difficulties. A promising approach seems to be a combination of cheap, easy-to-use and modular experimental kits for school which allow for wave optical experiments, in combination with quantum optical simulations. In the present article, we focus on the modularity and accessibility of an experimental kit based on 3D-printed 'Optic Cubes', which allow for a large variety of experiments in high school.

Space telescopes are some of the most precise and complicated machines ever built. Not only must they survive the harshness of space travel, but they also need to be incredibly accurate: misalignments by fractions of a millimetre can have huge effects on the quality of the images they capture. In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope became the first "large" telescope launched into space, and it immediately changed our view of the entire universe. However, in that time imaging technology has come a long way, and with Hubble's on-board cameras degrading because of cosmic radiation, it is time for a replacement. Enter the James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb for short. Webb offers a myriad of improvements over Hubble and is also tuned slightly differently in order to build on the discoveries Hubble made. The authors bring some of the physics behind the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope to the primary classroom.

The refractive index (RI) is probably the single most important parameter in optical systems. Chromatic dispersion, on the other hand, indicates how the RI depends on the wavelength and is central in, e.g., optical communication systems. Chromatic dispersion also plays an important role when teaching optics due to the captivating natural phenomenon of the rainbow and the white light decomposition with a prism. In this work, we propose and explore a method to characterize the refractive index of transparent liquids in the visible range without any dedicated equipment or device (such as prisms, goniometer, laser, detector, etc.).

Even though many physics teachers take their students on a calculation adventure through circular motion and Newton's universal law of gravity to determine Earth's velocity, most of us leave it at that. We present the final result and say, "Look, Earth is moving around the Sun at about 107,000 km/hr (66,000 mph), yet we can't feel the motion at all!" Well, thanks to an NSF-funded Research Experience for Teachers, some eager participants, a simply built radio horn telescope pointed at the center of the Milky Way, and the addition of Doppler effect considerations, we can verify our calculations through observation…science!

Visual representation in school textbooks plays an important role for physics teaching and learning. The integration of graphics with text has drawn attention of physics educators in recent years due to the close relationship between graphics and relevant text. The purpose of this study is to examine visual representation of optical content in three physics textbooks commonly used in China and Singapore. Based on a revised version of graphical analysis protocol, this study focuses on two aspects of visual representation: (1) presentation of graphics; and (2) integration of graphics with corresponding text. The content analysis approach was adopted as the research methodology with 115 graphics taken from the three physics textbooks being the analysis target. The results show that the three textbooks had considerable differences in terms of graphical presentations and that they contained a small percentage of high systematical representations. On integration of graphics with text, each textbook was found to be unique. Based on the results of this study, some recommendations are provided for visual representation in physics textbooks so as to enhance the effectiveness of textbooks on teaching and learning, such as highlighting physical and semantic integration of text with graphics.

Optics is a core field in the curricula of secondary physics education. In this study, we present the development and validation of a test instrument in the field of optics, the ray optics in converging lenses concept inventory (ROC-CI). It was developed for and validated with middle school students, but can also be adapted for the use in higher levels of physics education. The ROC-CI can be used as a formative or a summative assessment of students' conceptual understanding of image formation by converging lenses, assessing the following: (i) the overall understanding of fundamental concepts related to converging lenses, (ii) the understanding of specific concepts, and (iii) students' propensity for difficulties within this topic. The initial ROC-CI consists of 16 multiple-choice items; however, one item was removed based on various quality checks. We validated the ROC-CI thoroughly with distractor analyses, classical test theory, item response theory, structural analyses, and analyses of students' total scores at different measurement points as quantitative approaches, as well as student interviews and an expert survey as qualitative approaches. The quantitative analyses are mostly based on a dataset of N = 318 middle school students who took the ROC-CI as a post-test. The student interviews were conducted with seven middle school students after they were taught the concepts of converging lenses. The expert survey included five experts who evaluated both individual items and the test as a whole. The analyses showed good to excellent results for the test instrument, corroborating the 15-item ROC-CI's validity and its compliance with the three foci outlined above.

In this article, simple models of optical computing circuits (1 x 4 demultiplexer (DEMUX), 4 x 1 multiplexer (MUX), Boolean logic, and half-adder (HA)) are shown with mechanically controlled plane mirrors. Photographs of the proposed computational circuits are also shown. It is very useful for the school student to understand optical logic and Boolean algebra. It also shows that, computation can be possible with simple plane mirrors placed on the table. Here mirror movements are done with hand. The principle of operation of the circuits is based on reflection of light from plane mirrors. Optical devices which are used in this activity are all low-cost materials.

On April 14, 1912, the British passenger liner R.M.S. "Titanic" struck an iceberg. The ship sank in a fraction of the time designers had estimated following a worst case scenario. The purpose of this article is to examine the atmospheric refractive phenomena that might have played a significant role in obscuring the iceberg from "Titanic"'s two lookouts. We describe a way in which these phenomena can easily and inexpensively be brought to students in our introductory physics classrooms.

We outline the basic theory behind white light interferometry and the workings of a typical light interferometer microscope. We study WLI images obtained for rough and smooth chrome steel spheres to illustrate the principle that curved rough surfaces can be imaged with such a device as long as the surface roughness is kept within certain limits.

In this experiment we have first determined the focal length of an equiconvex lens. We have observed that a real image can be formed by the lens on the same side of the source if the source is sufficiently strong. This is due to the reflection from the concave surface of the lens. We have measured these image distances for different object distances. From these measurements, we have determined the refractive index of the lens as well as its radii of curvature. The relationship between the object and image distances in the reflection from the concave surface of a lens as formulated here, is similar to the ordinary reflection from a concave mirror. However, the focal length, in this case, turns out to be smaller than that of a regular concave mirror of the same radius of curvature by a factor of two, for a lens of refractive index of 1.5.

The current pandemic era demands distance learning, including physics experiments on the topic of optics. One of the optical phenomena that needs to be explained in optic courses is fluorescence. This study offers a simple home experiment regarding the application of fluorescence, namely to identify the purity of olive oil using simple fluorescence imaging. This fluorescence imaging experiment used a 532 nm green laser as a beam source and a smartphone camera as an image capture detector. Olive oil samples were mixed with mineral oil to obtain various variations of olive oil purity. When the sample was induced with a laser, the laser beam path changed colour to orange due to fluorescence phenomena. This fluorescence effect was then captured in the form of images. Fluorescence intensity converted from the Grey value of the laser beam path image. The experimental results show a linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and olive oil purity with a determination coefficient R[superscript 2] = 0.98. This experiment can be an offer to explain the application of fluorescence with activities carried out independently by tertiary-level physics students in their respective homes. This fluorescent imaging procedure can also be related in terms of its application in olive oil quality control.

Single slit diffraction and the thermal expansion of materials are common components of an undergraduate physics course, though these topics are often taught independently in both lectures and laboratory based courses. Higher levels of cognitive domains can be achieved by building on these established topics and combining them into a single experiment that also introduces new tools and techniques for data handling and analysis. Here we describe an experiment where the thermal expansion of a metal bar shifts an attached razor blade such that the separation between this blade and another fixed blade decreases. This decrease in blade separation allows for changes in the peak separation for single slit diffraction to be measured and the expansion coefficient of three metal bars (copper, steel and aluminium) is determined to good agreement with accepted values. The use of multiple peak fitting allows students to develop more sophisticated analysis techniques that are applicable beyond this experiment and are transferable to different areas of experimental physics.

The purpose of this study was to explore how students interacted with guidance to conduct a scientific inquiry in a physics simulation by using the eye-tracking techniques. The participants were 51 7th graders, and an eye-tracking system was used to record their visual behaviors and log data while they were using the simulation. As for data analysis, we first checked each participant's log data to examine whether they completed the requirement of the guidance, and then checked the correctness of her/his answer to the inquiry task. The participants were thus divided into two groups (correct vs. wrong), and the patterns of their visual behaviors were examined by a set of eye-movement indices, normalized heat maps and lag sequential analyses. The results indicate that both spatial distributions and temporal sequences of the participants' visual attention were associated with their performances on the inquiry task. Regarding the spatial distribution, the correct group tended to allocate more visual attention to the regions presenting the target phenomenon than the wrong group. Concerning the temporal sequence, the correct group tended to make more visual transitions among the content of the guidance, the relevant control panels and the target phenomena than the wrong group.

A new diagnostic instrument, the Conceptual Survey on Wave Optics (CSWO), was developed and validated on 224 high school students (aged 18-19 years) in Croatia. The process of test construction, which included the testing of 61 items on the total of 712 students is presented. The final version of the test consists of 26 multiple-choice items which cover basic conceptual aspects of interference, diffraction, and polarization of light at the high school level. The construction of the test and the evaluation of its functioning and validity were conducted using the Rasch model. The test construct was based on the increasing levels of cognitive complexity in accordance with the Webb's depth of knowledge model. The theoretical construct was empirically confirmed, and it suggests that the explanations of wave optics phenomena and their application to real-life situations are the most difficult aspects of high school students' understanding of wave optics. The results of the Rasch analysis suggest that the CSWO is a reliable diagnostic instrument suitable for administration as a post-test to high school students after instruction on wave optics and possibly also for university level students in some introductory physics courses.

The laser pointer has been widely used to demonstrate some simple optics phenomena, like reflection, refraction, total reflection, and diffraction. However, the rays of laser light cannot be seen in the air because the scattered light is too weak. Many physics teachers use milk or smoke to visualize rays of laser light in physics labs, but it is hard to demonstrate some experiments, such as diffraction. Recently, Velasco and del Mazo demonstrated an interesting experiment in which four optical phenomena could be visualized by using a rhodamine B solution. However, the color change of the laser beam (532 nm) is not easy to explain for students who have just learned optics. In this study, we developed a simple way of visualizing geometric optical experiments in water mixed with highlighter ink to eliminate the influence of color change. Our material list includes a green highlighter, a large transparent rectangular tank filled with water, a smaller transparent square container, a round acrylic plate, a prism, a concave acrylic plate, a beaker, and a CD grating.

A popular introductory physics laboratory experiment is one focusing on Snell's law. This is straightforward to complete with lasers and prisms, but here we present an alternative version that guides the students through some of the major historical developments, recreating and analyzing significant experiments. The discovery of Snell's law has a fascinating, winding, global history, and the sine relationship eluded some of the greatest minds in optics for more than a thousand years.

This paper proposes a simple method to design experiments for drawing the light paths at a lens to find its effective focal length and principal planes. In the designed experiments, long-exposure photography was used to record the light scattered using a moving sheet of paper, thus revealing the light path. According to the proposed experimental method, (1) the effective focal length of a lens and (2) the principal planes of a lens can be measured. Moreover, the system is easy to build, inexpensive, and can promote students' understanding of geometric optics by providing an intuitive physical phenomenon. The work is also of pedagogic interest as it reveals a new simple experimental method to find the principal planes of a thick lens and its effective focal length.

A simple measurement of the refractive index of a liquid has been performed using a spherical lens. This lens is a spherical shape flask containing the liquid under study. Parallel pointer laser beams are directed to the lens to obtain the back focal length of the lens. The focal point is determined visually or using the Tracker software to analyze the photo. The back focal length is investigated related to the radius of curvature of the lens and the liquid under study. The refractive index at [lambda] = 635 nm resulted from the photo analysis for water, ethanol and vegetable oil are 1.34 ± 0.03, 1.38 ± 0.05, 1.47 ± 0.06, respectively. This simple experiment is suitable for teaching.

In this study, it is aimed to develop practical teaching activities that can be used in optics teaching. For this purpose, a virtual laboratory environment was created in RayLab which is an application for design and simulation of optics on the iPad/iPhone. In this context, the dispersion of white light in the prism, the relationship between the refractive index and the wavelength of the light and the recombination of the dispersed white light were examined. It was seen that the virtual experiment results obtained in the activities are compatible with the theoretical results and the real experimental situations.

By building a schlieren optical system, the visualization of a 40 KHz sound wave is realized. By using the schlieren system, the demonstration of acoustic reflection, interference and diffraction can be easily realized. At the same time, the visual acoustic field provides another simple way for the measurement of sound velocity. In this paper, the experimental device is simple in structure and low in cost. The experimental content combines the optical and acoustic content, which can be used as the acoustic experimental content for undergraduate students.

The wave nature of light has been widely demonstrated in a double-slit experiment, which has played a special role in physics teaching. When monochromatic light passes through the double-slit sheet, the diffraction and interference fringes can be observed in the far-field regime. The interference of light causes the beams passing through the two slits to interact with each other, but each slit still retains the diffraction characteristics of a single slit, so the result is a combination of diffraction and interference patterns.

We outline the physics involved in the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and modernise the usual textbook treatment by explaining how one can now obtain high-quality images with non-conductive specimens. As a concrete example of an application in biology, we provide several magnification series of a flea obtained using SEM.