Minds on Physics Internet Modules

What are the Minds on Physics Internet Modules?

The Minds On Physics Internet Modules (affectionately known as Minds on Physics or MOP) consists of more than 1300 carefully-crafted questions designed to improve student conceptions of common physics topics. Minds On Physics is 135 challenging assignments, each of which address one or two student learning outcomes. Minds On Physics is a collection of 15 modules that are designed to provide students with a learning opportunity, an exercise in thinking, and a chance to reflect and review.

Minds On Physics is hard to describe because Minds On Physics is like nothing else. At first glance, it appears to be an exercise in answering questions. But it is indeed much more than that. Students will certainly answer questions and they will definitely get an exercise. The exercise is an exercise in thinking, an exercise in pondering the meaning of a concept, an exercise in probing the relationship between ideas, and an exercise in making sense of the language that is used to express a physics principle. Students will get a mental workout as they think about how they conceive of a topic. Common misconceptions are often targeted. Superficial thinking is quickly challenged. And a deeper understanding of a concept is most often the end result of this exercise in Minds On Physics.

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How Do the Minds on Physics Internet Modules Work?

The Minds On Physics Internet Modules were designed to be a learning and assessment tool. Each module is broken down into a collection of short assignments. The assignments focus on one or two specific objectives or learning outcomes. When working on an assignment, a collection of questions is presented to a student in consecutive fashion and in a random order. Student's answers are immediately evaluated and feedback regarding their correctness is given. Students continue to answer questions in an effort to progress through the assignment. Behind the scenes, the program is constantly analyzing student answers, looking for patterns of missing. When a pattern is observed, students are alerted of the pattern and provided links to online help that is specific to the questions that are being missed. When a student completes the assignment, a success code is rewarded; the success code allows a student to earn credit for the assignment if MOP is assigned by a teacher.

That's the one-paragraph explanation of how it works. But the best explanation of how it works occurs when you give it a try. Please do.

• Directions for using the Minds on Physics Internet Modules
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Who can use the MOP Internet Modules?

Anyone and everyone can use the Minds On Physics Internet Modules. Logging on is an easy process and registration information is not needed. Simply enter a Teacher Code (4-6 letters) and a Student ID number (4-6 numerical characters) and you will be ready to start MOP-ping away. Don't have a Teacher Code or a Student ID number? No problem! Simply use GUEST as the Teacher Code and 1234 as the Student ID Number.

• Directions for using the Minds on Physics Internet Modules
• View Screencast Demonstration of Directions
• Information About Teacher Use
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I am a teacher. Can I assign MOP as homework?

The Minds On Physics Internet Modules do NOT use a database to store information about the student and the student's experience. Instead, MOP acquires a Student ID number and a Teacher Code each time that the student begins a session of MOP-ping. If the student completes an assignment, MOP uses this information to create a success code. The success code is a collection of 8 characters that is unique to the student and the assignment that the student has completed. Minds On Physics encrypts this information into the success code so that it is unique for every student and highly improbable that a student could make it up. Using encrypted success codes allows teachers to assign MOP as homework and to check that students have completed the assignment. Teachers can collect students' success codes and check them online to validate that they have indeed completed the assignment.

In order to check students' success codes to validate that they have completed the assignment, teachers must acquire a Minds On Physics teacher account. Registration includes a service fee. The outcome of the registration is that teachers acquire an account that allows them to easily decrypt student success codes. Checking success codes is an easy process that takes approximately 15 minutes for a unit's worth of work for a typical class. As an added bonus, registered teachers have the ability to preview all questions within an assignment with the option of customizing the assignment. Without registration, your students can still use Minds On Physics but there will be no means of validating their success codes and holding them accountable for the completion of the work. Learn how you can acquire an account on our Teacher Registration page. Join now.

• Information About Teacher Use
• Information About Acquiring a Teacher Account
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Adobe Shockwave Player

Having difficulties getting Minds On Physics to work from home? MOP uses the Shockwave Player plug-in to deliver questions to your browser window. Perhaps you need to install the Shockwave Player. Visit the Adobe website and download the player. It is free and once installed, you'll be MOP-ping from home.

Shockwave not working? View our updated Troubleshooting page for explanations as to why and what you can do to either get Shockwave working or how to avoid it all together. 
 

A Message for Students

Students: don't get frustrated. Don't get discouraged. Learning physics - really learning it - can be a difficult task. But it's not a task you have to do alone. The Minds On Physics Internet Modules offers an exhaustive collection of help. Every question is accompanied by a discussion of helpful information, formulas and concepts which are pertinent to the question. Simply click the textbook icon and receive the help you need.

• Information About Revised Help