Month: February 2012

Terrific Regents Physics Resource: 123Physics.com

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Yes, it’s been awhile since my last post.  We’ve had some family excitement in the recent past, including two difficult losses, but I’m thrilled to most recently have added a baby girl to our family (I’m heading to the hospital to bring mom and baby home today!)  All are well, and we’re so excited and blesses to have such a wonderful addition.

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I’ve been long overdue on this post, but wanted to share a great online resource with high school physics teachers.  Anthony Mangiacapre, author of the terrific St. Mary’s Physics Online site, has another winner on his hands.

123Physics is a site that includes more than 1300 multiple choice questions to assist students in preparing for the NY Regents Physics exam (as well as most any algebra-based physics course).  It includes link to the St. Mary’s online physics lessons, Tony’s terrific Youtube video channel, and even a collection of physics clipart.

Most attractive, though, is the set of online review questions.  Tony has set up the site to allow students to take a full Regents exam online (multiple choice questions), with selections from many recent exams (2000s).  Further, you can set up practice quizzes on the following topics:

  • Electricity
  • Energy
  • Mechanics
  • Modern Physics
  • Waves

Upon choosing a main topic, you can select a sub-topic to focus on.  For example, the waves topic is broken up into:

  • EM Waves
  • Index of Refraction
  • Reflection
  • Refraction
  • Sound
  • Wave Characteristics
  • Wave Phenomena

From there, you can choose which type of question to focus on, either general knowledge, reference table, or plug-in types.  This provides students a huge range of quizzes they can create to test their knowledge on any specific topic, or type of problem.  In my experience, students MUCH prefer doing work on the computer compared to hard copy paper — for some reason it just seems to be more fun and/or engaging, and the instant feedback provided allows students to fix their mistakes and work through any issues immediately.

Tony already has a tremendously valuable student resource in his St. Mary’s Physics Online resource, and with the addition and tie-in of 123Physics along with his Youtube videos, Tony has managed to share his terrific resources with not just his students, but with all interested students and educators.

Physics Videos Posted #flipclass #physicsed #edtech

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Man behind studio camera hg clr

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog, but with good reason.  Starting roughly two years ago June, I began work to create short overview videos of all major topics covered by the NY Regents Curriculum.  Last night, 87 videos later, they were finally complete (http://www.aplusphysics.com/courses/regents/videos/vid_index.html).  But allow me to explain further.

These are not meant to replace in-class instruction, or act as a substitute for reading the textbook, or supersede much more effective active learning techniques.  However, for the student who has to miss many days of school, or feels overwhelmed and would like the key concepts distilled down into the very basics, or wants a quick refresher before an exam, they can be a resource of great value.  I strongly believe in video instruction, but not in the vein of Khan Academy or others, in which video lectures take the place of quality instruction, but rather as additional resources to assist students in building a more complete understanding of the topic being explored.

Further, I am hopeful these will be of benefit to readers of my book “Regents Physics Essentials.”  Sometimes seeing sample problems walked through can be infinitely more valuable than reading a solution in a book.  I have also posted the videos on Youtube, and have received a very positive response through some 30,000 views.

So if you thought I’d dropped off the face of the Earth… no such luck.  Still here, I was just focusing on completing the videos before the next big event in my saga’s family — birth of baby girl #2 is imminent at any moment!

For those who have been wondering what comes next from an APlusPhysics perspective, here are a few of the projects I have on the docket:

  • Creating a set of PDF problem sheets for each unit in Regents Physics Essentials
  • Creating a video guide explaining how we use the APlusPhysics system for personalized, differentiated review
  • Converting Regents Physics Essentials into an iBooks2 interactive textbook format
  • Optimizing / Cleaning Up the Semiconductor Technology Enrichment Program (STEP) materials
  • And eventually, I want to try my hand at a speculative fiction novel (been planning for almost a year now!)

Best wishes to all, and thank you for your patience and understanding.  Make it a great day!