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The Physics Classroom
Pros: A gold mine of physics learning resources for students and teachers.
Cons: More real-world connections could help hold students' interest.
Bottom Line: Though the content is a bit text-heavy, this is a detailed, helpful resource for clarifying and deepening kids' understanding of physics.
The Physics Classroom is a great resource for students who need to review concepts or get extra practice. Teachers could also use the simulations to illustrate concepts during lecture. Sections of the site could also be assigned in lieu of labs missed in class. The Minds on Physics (MOP) program is a standout feature. This section could be assigned for credit; teachers could track student progress. There are plenty of teacher tips, instructions, and videos on how to use the MOP section with students.
Teacher resources include PDF handout packets for use with the tutorials. These might make good unit reviews or practice exercises. Throughout the unit, use these to give your students a variety of review questions, diagrams, graphing and data practice, and equation work. Other free teacher resources include ACT practice passages, a library of inquiry-type labs, and a Flickr photo gallery of real-world physics phenomena. Lab activities include a teacher's guide with tips, precautions, a scoring rubric, and connections to relevant tutorials.
The Physics Classroom is geared toward high school physics students. The site has sections for learning, practice, and review, as well as teacher tools. The main learning area is the Physics Tutorials section, which includes in-depth lessons on physics topics that are embedded with simple diagrams and questions to check for understanding. Along with these tutorials, kids can access a library of interactive simulations to develop their understanding.
The review sections of the site provide kids with numerous opportunities to problem-solve and check their answers. The Minds on Physics (MOP) program is an adaptive question tool that teachers can assign, either for credit or practice. The program analyzes kids’ answers and recommends topics and areas for review. MOP the App can be downloaded from Google Play or iTunes so students can use it on their smartphones or tablets at home.
High school kids will definitely find the resources helpful, though the text-heavy format might be daunting at first. The tutorials are heavily text-based, and the simulations could stand to be updated with more color, modern-looking graphics and authentic, real-world examples. Text supports include highlighted key words that are linked to related tutorials, as well as links to external websites.
Additionally, there are a wealth of practice problems of various types, including multiple-choice, matching, passages, and word problems. Students can check their answers immediately and see explanations of the solutions. Overall, serious students with the patience to study and work through the problems will gain the most here. Nevertheless, struggling students may also find help with learning concepts and problem-solving. It's worth noting that some of the animated features may require a 64-bit Web browser (such as a recent version of Firefox) to function properly.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
A rather comprehensive resource for Physics Content, Physics Classroom provides supplemental instruction and easy visualization of concepts
Use the text and tutorials as supplemental instruction or provide more in depth instruction. Not all topics are supplemental to an AP or IB level. Some core concepts are missing. (Fluids, Thermodynamics). Demos can help students visualize the concepts. Take into consideration audience maturity, you may need to re-direct if they are not engaged or add more info to a given activity or demo. Always put the lesson in context of your class first. CP Physics may find this more useful then AP/IB. May go as far as M-level in SAMR hierarchy in terms of how you can introduce lab concepts or perform labs virtually.
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