Ebook: The Pendulum: Scientific, Historical, Philosophical and Educational Perspectives

The pendulum is a universal topic in primary and secondary schools, but its full potential for learning about physics, the nature of science, and the relationships between science, mathematics, technology, society and culture is seldom realised.

Contributions to this 32-chapter anthology deal with the science, history, methodology and pedagogy of pendulum motion. There is ample material for the richer and more cross-disciplinary treatment of the pendulum from elementary school, to high school, and through to advanced university classes.

Scientists will value the studies on the physics of the pendulum; historians will appreciate the detailed treatment of Galileo, Huygens, Newton and Foucault’s pendulum investigations; psychologists and educators will learn from the papers on Piaget; teachers will welcome the many contributions to pendulum pedagogy.

All readers will come away with a new awareness of the importance of the pendulum in the foundation and development of modern science; and for its centrality in so many facets of society and culture.

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The pendulum is a universal topic in primary and secondary schools, but its full potential for learning about physics, the nature of science, and the relationships between science, mathematics, technology, society and culture is seldom realised.

Contributions to this 32-chapter anthology deal with the science, history, methodology and pedagogy of pendulum motion. There is ample material for the richer and more cross-disciplinary treatment of the pendulum from elementary school, to high school, and through to advanced university classes.

Scientists will value the studies on the physics of the pendulum; historians will appreciate the detailed treatment of Galileo, Huygens, Newton and Foucault’s pendulum investigations; psychologists and educators will learn from the papers on Piaget; teachers will welcome the many contributions to pendulum pedagogy.

All readers will come away with a new awareness of the importance of the pendulum in the foundation and development of modern science; and for its centrality in so many facets of society and culture.

 

 

---

The pendulum is a universal topic in primary and secondary schools, but its full potential for learning about physics, the nature of science, and the relationships between science, mathematics, technology, society and culture is seldom realised.

Contributions to this 32-chapter anthology deal with the science, history, methodology and pedagogy of pendulum motion. There is ample material for the richer and more cross-disciplinary treatment of the pendulum from elementary school, to high school, and through to advanced university classes.

Scientists will value the studies on the physics of the pendulum; historians will appreciate the detailed treatment of Galileo, Huygens, Newton and Foucault’s pendulum investigations; psychologists and educators will learn from the papers on Piaget; teachers will welcome the many contributions to pendulum pedagogy.

All readers will come away with a new awareness of the importance of the pendulum in the foundation and development of modern science; and for its centrality in so many facets of society and culture.

 

 

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-vii
The Pendulum: Its Place in Science, Culture and Pedagogy....Pages 1-17
The Pendulum in the 21st Century-Relic or Trendsetter....Pages 19-35
The Pendulum: A Paradigm for the Linear Oscillator....Pages 37-47
Introduction to the Treatment of Non-Linear Effects Using a Gravitational Pendulum....Pages 49-66
Experimental Control of Simple Pendulum Model....Pages 67-76
Soup-can Pendulum....Pages 77-88
What Makes the Foucault Pendulum Move among the Stars?....Pages 89-97
Galileo and the Pendulum: Latching on to Time....Pages 99-113
The Treatment of the Motion of a Simple Pendulum in Some Early 18th Century Newtonian Textbooks....Pages 115-125
Newton’s Path to Universal Gravitation: The Role of the Pendulum....Pages 127-138
L?on Foucault: His Life, Times and Achievements....Pages 139-150
The Pendulum: From Constrained Fall to the Concept of Potential....Pages 151-169
Idealisation and Galileo’s Pendulum Discoveries: Historical, Philosophical and Pedagogical Considerations....Pages 171-183
Pendula, Models, Constructivism and Reality....Pages 185-208
The Poet and the Pendulum....Pages 209-235
Methodology and Politics: A Proposal to Teach the Structuring Ideas of the Philosophy of Science through the Pendulum....Pages 237-265
Degree of Influence on Perception of Belief and Social Setting: Its Relevance to Understanding Pendulum Motion....Pages 267-276
Piaget and the Pendulum....Pages 277-291
What the Pendulum Can Tell Educators about Children’s Scientific Reasoning....Pages 293-302
Pendulum Phenomena and the Assessment of Scientific Inquiry Capabilities....Pages 303-313
Roles of Abductive Reasoning and Prior Belief in Children’s Generation of Hypotheses about Pendulum Motion....Pages 315-348
Types of Two-Dimensional Pendulums and Their Uses in Education....Pages 349-362
The Pendulum as a Vehicle for Transitioning from Classical to Quantum Physics: History, Quantum Concepts, and Educational Challenges....Pages 363-376
Analyzing Dynamic Pendulum Motion in an Interactive Online Environment Using Flash....Pages 377-391
Pendulum Activities in the Israeli Physics Curriculum: Used and Missed Opportunities....Pages 393-412
The Pendulum as Presented in School Science Textbooks of Greece and Cyprus....Pages 413-433
The Public Understanding of Pendulum Motion: From 5 to 88 Years Old....Pages 435-448
Using Excel to Simulate Pendulum Motion and Maybe Understand Calculus a Little Better....Pages 449-463
Teaching Cultural History from Primary Events....Pages 465-484
Pendulums in The Physics Education Literature: A Bibliography....Pages 485-490
Back Matter....Pages 491-503
....Pages 505-526