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1. Aspects of Inquiry Applied in Japan and Australia

   https://doi.org/10.58021/S54S3V  

   Cense, Barry (January 2022, Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE))

   Seagroves, Scott; Barnes, Austin; Metevier, Anne; Porter, Jason; Hunter, Lisa (Ed.)

   The author reflects on his experience as a participant in the Professional Development Program (PDP) in 2005 and 2006 and how he has implemented elements of inquiry learning in his curriculum. He taught courses in Japan and Australia and touches on his perception of how the students in his units learned, and what the effects of (learning) culture are on inquiry learning. Through his experiences, the author found that in the first stages of a learning process, inquiry learning can help to engage and motivate students. In the end stage of learning, inquiry learning can help students to demonstrate their ability to think and work independently. One should carefully consider the learning background of students before implementing aspects of inquiry learning, as it can be affected by the culture in which they grew up. 

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2. A tutorial on the physics of light and image shading

   https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695241279929  

   Todd, James_T (September 2024, i-Perception)

   This paper provides an overview of the many different ways that light interacts with surfaces in the natural environment to provide useful information for visual perception. It begins with a discussion of how the concept of light has evolved over the course of human history. It then considers a wide variety of optical phenomena including Lambert's laws of illumination, the effects of microscopic surface structure on patterns of reflection, the bidirectional reflectance distribution function, the refraction of transmitted light, chromatic dispersion, thin film interference, sub-surface scattering, the Fresnel effects, indirect illumination from multiple reflections, caustics, and the structure of the light field. The primary goal of this discussion is to provide the necessary background information to help students and young researchers more easily understand the scientific literature on the perception of 3D shape and material properties from patterns of image shading. 

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3. A case study approach to understanding a remote undergraduate research program

   https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Zohrabi_Alaee  

   Zohrabi Alaee, Dina; Zwickl, Benjamin M. (October 2021, Physics Education Research Conference 2021)

   Due to the growing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities either canceled or remotely hosted their 2020 National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. This analysis is part of a larger study examining the impact of these fully remote experiences on professional and psychosocial factors such as mentees' sense of belonging, identity, and self-efficacy and their retention in STEM degree programs. We present a single-student case study and describe the dramaturgical analysis which centers on identifying five fundamental constructs within the data: objectives, conflicts, tactics, attitudes, and emotions. These items investigate what the participant in the remote REU program experienced and how this experience changed the ways in which he thinks about his future career decision-making. Our analysis explored four different sub-narratives: lack of community in virtual REU, mentor support, perception of the "real" nature of the experience in a virtual format, and future career decision-making. The mentee reported that this experience was highly beneficial and that he developed a sense of belonging and identity, despite working remotely -- often from his own bedroom. 

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4. Lev Gutman—A Pioneer in Theoretical Mesoscale Meteorology

   https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0069.1  

   Gutman, Garik; Pielke, Roger; Anthes, Richard; Alpert, Pinhas; Baklanov, Alexander; Bodin, Svante; Khain, Alexander; Krichak, Simon (September 2024, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society)

   Abstract On 5 March 2023, Professor Lev Gutman would have been 100 years old. This article describes Professor Gutman’s legacy in the field of dynamic mesoscale meteorology and numerical weather prediction. Gutman developed his career as a mathematician and meteorologist in the Soviet Union, where he built a school of specialists in mesoscale meteorology from the 1950s through the 1970s. He primarily worked on analytical methods to solve complex nonlinear problems, such as the structure of sea breezes, mountain–valley circulations, and thermal convection over heated terrain. Gutman pioneered the development of theories of cumulus clouds, tornadoes, and other atmospheric phenomena. In the 1960s, he carried out numerous research investigations on these topics with his doctoral students and collaborators at the High-Altitude Geophysical Institute in Nalchik in the northern Caucasus and later at the Siberian Scientific Center near Novosibirsk. Gutman compiled the results from these studies into a monograph titled “Introduction to the Nonlinear Theory of Mesoscale Meteorological Processes,” which was published in Russian in 1969 and later translated into English, Chinese, and Japanese. This monograph became a major textbook for specialists in mesoscale meteorology, remaining relevant to this day. After Professor Gutman immigrated to Israel in 1978, his collaborations expanded to include Israeli and western scientists from Europe and the United States. Gutman did not receive the recognition he deserved due to the political realities of the time. His book and his seminal analytical solutions should still be useful for early career scientists in mesoscale meteorology and atmospheric dynamics. 

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5. The Astrophysical Thoughts of Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-025-00325-0  

   Wiescher, Michael; Langanke, Karlheinz (April 2025, Physics in Perspective)

   Abstract Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker published two important papers on topics of nuclear astrophysics in 1937 and 1938 before he turned his attention elsewhere motivated by the discovery of fission and the outbreak of war in 1939. It seems, however, that he continued to actively think about issues related to astrophysics, namely the discussion and role of neutron stars and cosmology. Both are contemporary topics today. This paper presents the development of Weizsäcker’s thoughts in the years between 1935 and 1945, making use of his personal notes and letters. 

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