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--- classes:2012:spring:phys1301w.200:home [2012/01/16 00:31] – created yk
+++ classes:2012:spring:phys1301w.200:home [2012/02/10 08:59] (current) – yk
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 ====== 1301W.200 wiki page ======
 students, TAs and faculty instructors can post anything which are related to the class here.
+===== Study resources =====
+==== Here is a contribution from a student ====
+The first one, Khanacademy.org is just a website built by a guy who
+received 3 different degrees from MIT, and then an MBA from Harvard.
+He's made several thousand videos over the past few years that cover
+everything from corporate finance, to biology, chemistry, organic
+chemistry,  trigonometry, calculus, linear algebra (and just about
+every other level of math there is), art history, astronomy, and of
+course physics.  And those cover a pretty full range of topics from
+kinematics, projectile motion, fluids, circuits, thermodynamics, etc.
+Videos average about just 10 minutes, but will push up to 25-30
+minutes for more complicated subjects like linear algebra.  It seems
+to me that the guy just has a natural talent for communicating.
+Calculus for example is not hard to learn, but unfortunately for the
+instructors, it's hard to teach because of how obscure many of the
+concepts can be when first presented.  I've noticed that most people
+feel that once you finally understand what the calculus teacher is
+trying to convey, it's suddenly so easy that it's more tedious than
+anything, and you feel like an idiot for not grasping it sooner.
+Case in point, on almost every video I've watched of calculus I see
+comments at the bottom from kids in like the 7th grade, even one made
+by a 12 year old, who were watching the videos and grasping, with
+ease, the same concepts that so many of my university peers in the 8am
+calc class are having to work at.  And if nothing else, it's great
+remedial education for those who are out of practice and need a
+refresher.
+The second, physics-online.com, just has a wide array of interactive
+modules that seem to cover almost every subject in basic physics.  And
+as I said before, at least for me, it's the simple act of repetition
+that does it.  Often times, just by doing something I can learn it
+even if I've never had any formal education and lack any prior
+knowledge.  But the real value, especially given that the FREE
+lite-version (which gives you everything you need anyway), is in the
+visualization.  Looking at a collection of letters and Greek symbols
+pieced together into a formula on a chalk board is much harder to
+interpret and internalized than the picture of a cannon shooting a
+ball at an initial velocity any angle you choose, while plotting the
+trajectory in flight and showing you how the vectors change.  So what
+I do is just click and set random values without looking at the screen
+and then based on how far it went or the angle I set, or whatever
+variable I decide to play with, I try to see if I can calculate the
+remaining variables.
+But another thing that I thought you might be interested is one of its
+features called "Mechanics Pad".  It's an interactive module where you
+can literally design your own mechanical system with pulleys, gears,
+levers, vectors, or it seems just about any other mechanical system
+you can imagine.  I've yet to really explore it, but it seems like
+that could probably be useful for something.

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