The page is mainly text based material containing six lessons on 1-D Kinematics. Each of the six lessons contains several sub-topics. The material is hyperlinked throughout for definitions and to link topics. Examples are provided throughout on topics such as velocity vs. time plot. Occasional animations are provided when appropriate.
The material is extensive and could be used as a stand-alone text on the topics covered. The six lesson topics are: Describing Motion with Words, Describing Motion with Diagrams, Describing Motion with Position vs. Time Graphs, Describing Motion with Velocity vs. Time Graphs, Free Fall and the Acceleration of Gravity, and Describing Motion with Equations.
Type of Material:
Web page. Includes text, hyperlinks, gif animations. The item is one component within a broader set of introductory physics resources.
Recommended Uses:
This is a complete module on 1-D Kinematics. The material may be used as a reference for students.
Technical Requirements:
The material appears to be standard html and should be usable in any web browser.
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Understanding of 1-D kinematics for this section of the larger "Physics Classroom" site.
Target Student Population:
The target is students in introductory physics - mainly secondary school but also can be used for lower level undergraduate.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Users must have math skills (algebra for these topics) sufficient to enter introductory physics. In addition knowledge of appropriate units.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The fact that these materials use hyperlinks extensively will allow the user to find topics of concern to that user. The student will not need to spend much time seeking and finding specific definitions, plots, or examples. Each topic is clearly and quickly "findable". The coverage of topics is extensive with complete coverage of vocabulary, equations, and graphs.
Concerns:
The use of notation for acceleration units, m/s/s is ambiguous (though it is explained). A more appropriate notation is m/(s^2) or m/(s*s). The use of g=10 m/s^2 as an approximation must be denoted every time the approximation is used (for users external to Glenbrook).
Magnitude is usually defined as a positive quantity. The author states that "Scalars are quantities which are fully described by a magnitude alone." Scalars are described as having size and not direction, but scalars can be negative, so this statement can be misleading.
There are ambiguities in the definitions of speed. Speed is defined in general terms, and then the author carefully defines average and instantaneous speed. It is not clear how "speed" is related to average and instantaneous speed. The author defines "Average Speed - average of all instantaneous speeds....". It is unclear how to average instantaneous speeds (what are they averaged over?). Instantaneous speed is defined, but there is no indication of how one would calculate or measure it.
On the page which describes acceleration, a table labeled time and velocity only gives speeds in the velocity column.
When describing the various kinematics quantities and the kinematics equations, the author leaves off reference to the initial velocity,
until the end summary, where the appearance of that quantity is not explained.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This is an excellent replacement of standard print based text with hypertext based materials. Taken by itself as a lesson on 1-D Kinematics it provides easy access to topics that a student will need to learn. Each lesson contains links back to previous lessons when previous concepts or jargon are referred to.
Animations and concept checks are good, useful elements that are not available in a traditional text.
Concerns:
An external user of the Glenbrook site may find that topics are not complete. For example there are limited resource on static electricity and none on circuits or electricity & magnetism. This may leave an instructor using resources in a piecemeal fashion.
The text is a bit dry. The text is necessarily a supplement to lecture and other material, as it refers to classroom demonstrations, and it does not have any sample problems.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The links throughout allow students to easily find topical material within a given module (1-D Kinematics here). The simple illustrations, graphics, and animations all seem to display easily, quickly and properly.
Concerns:
The current listing of subtopics for each lesson goes a,2,3,4..... This needs to be corrected on all modules but is not a significant problem.
Creative Commons:
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