Richard P. Hechter

PECTORAL FIN ASYMMETRY, DIMORPHISM AND FECUNDITY IN THE BROOK STICKLEBACK, CULAEA INCONSTANS

Sexual dimorphism in the pectoral fins of a C. inconstans population produces males whose fins are relatively larger than those of females. This difference may result from the unique demands placed on the fins during the males courtship dance and fanning behaviour during the parental phase. Males and females are also dimorphic in terms of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of pectoral fin ray number, which is lowest in females. Females with symmetric fin ray counts averaged about 15% more eggs per clutch than females with asymmetric fin ray counts. The ovaries of symmetric females were an average 6.5% heavier than those of asymmetric fish. The difference in fecundity is statistically significant and similar in two samples collected from the same site and separated by a time span of 19 years. This is the first report of a correlation between FA and fecundity in a fish population.

Pre-Service Teachers’ Maturing Perceptions of a TPACK-Framed Signature Pedagogy in Science Education

Teacher education programs across North America are transforming. What were once piecemeal programs consisting of often unrelated courses are now becoming coherent and intertwined trajectories toward teacher certification. Part of this transformation can be attributed to the weaving of “signature pedagogies” throughout overarching program frameworks. A modern signature pedagogy within science teacher education is the integration of technology with science area content and effective pedagogy. In this article the author reports an action research study aimed toward promoting the “scholarship of teaching” of pre-service teachers through articulating changes in their maturing perceptions of the integrated relationship between technological, pedagogical, and science content knowledge.

In harmony: inquiry based learning in a blended physics and music class

The power of music to resonate within us transcends conventional boundaries established in cultural, geographic, and political contexts. In our world, as physics educators, so does the resonating of physics phenomena. Secondary level physics is a perfect place to blend these two genres. While advocating for STEM-based education is at the forefront of pedagogical reform, seldom do we use this cross-boundary vision as the foundation to teach and learn in true collaboration of science and arts classrooms. As music enthusiasts, and physics educators, we developed new resources for a blended music and physics class through inquiry-based learning activities. Punctuated with modern technology, we aimed our activities for an engaging learning experience towards developing conceptual understandings of sound and harmonics at the grade 11 level. The umbrella activity shared here was designed to engage a wide range of students through the universal language of music, and provide them a hands-on and minds-on experience to explore harmonics through both music and physics lenses. It is our intention to provide readers with an overview of the activity, a description of exemplar student-designed inquiry-based investigations, and helpful suggestions for potential for use in readers classrooms.

Living Ethnoastronomy: Discovering the Connectedness of the Human Spirit Beneath the Night Sky

We are writing this article from opposite sides of the Earth and are getting ready to meet again in December 2017 to continue our project of bringing the world together through physics education, one constellation at a time. With the events in France, Belgium, Germany, United States, and United Kingdom fresh in our minds, there is not a more critical time than now to work on this project. Although some people believe that the authors (Richard, a Canadian Jew, and Nayif, a Palestinian Arab) should not be colleagues on an international project rooted in global unity, and certainly not be dear friends, we carry on as our work transcends the myopic limitations that society has placed on us. This is our story.

Reversing the AAPT Photo Contest: A Physics Teacher Education Activity

This year while awaiting the arrival of the AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest poster, I developed an idea for my physics teacher education course that used the photo contest in a new context. While using an external source like a photograph to learn physics is not new to physics education, this article describes how we used the foundational idea of the AAPT photo contest as the context to facilitate new lessons and activities for secondary-level students. The blending of photography and physics education can also be done at the high school level and undergraduate level as a creative means for content review and communication of conceptual understanding.