This course is aimed at high school courses in physics. No prior knowledge is assumed. You can see the table of contents by clicking on "Contents" to the right. The course clearly and visually presents topics many students find challenging. One advantage is these tutorials are self-paced, are done in familiar surroundings and done on a personal computer, rather than in the more formal setting of the classroom. Students today learn well from computers and the many animations, explanations and interactions engage them as the ideas are understood.
Developed by a team of international scientists and instructional designers led by Prof. Sanctuary of McGill University, these tutorials have received critical acclaim.
The PhysLINK.com physics resource web site said that "it is the best physics class-room and home study education software I have seen."
The programs can be installed and run on a variety of system configurations.
The minimum requirements are described below for PCs and MACs.
IBM/PC Compatible
Microsoft®Windows®2000 with Service Pack 4, Windows Server® 2003 and 2008; Windows XP Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition with Service Pack 2 or 3; Windows Vista®Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with or without Service Pack 1; WIndows 7
Intel®1.3 GHz processor
128MB of RAM (256MB recommended)
Disk
Space: 1 Gig free hard drive space
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, 6.0 with Service Pack 1, 7.0 or 8.0; Firefox 2.0 or 3.0
1. General principles
2. Math review
3. Vectors
4. Kinematics
5. Projectile motion
6. Thermodynamics
7. Frames of reference
8. Forces
9. Newton's laws
10. Electromagnetic theory
11. Momentum & collisions
12. Pre-quantum experiments
13. Work & energy
14. Quantum mechanics
15. Rotational motion
16. Gravity
17. Waves
18. Sound waves
19. Special relativity
20. Nuclear structure
The program takes advantage of multimedia technology to present teachers
and students with a new way of approaching and understanding the
challenging concepts and ideas found in Physics.
User-friendly interface allows for easy navigation
Flexible plotting, drag & drop and other interactive exercises
Convenient pull down calculator, glossary, key word searches,
note pad, periodic table and many tables of useful data
Hundreds of 3-D visual demonstrations, movies, animations and
sound effects
Many concise voice comments help to emphasize key concepts
Over 200 hours of study material on each CD compiled by renowned
McGill professor Dr. Bryan Sanctuary
Target audience
Covers all the traditional and modern topics in General Physics (non-Calculus) in
undergraduate science programs.
We encourage sales to
Universities, Institutions and Home Groups by providing Volume Discounts
(found at the bottom of all product pages). These provide even greater savings
over our already low prices, compared to hard copy textbooks.
Users: teachers
With the programs loaded on the teachers laptop, the material can be
projected in class. In addition throughout the text are scattered about 100
multimedia interactions that pop-up. In class, using the Multimedia Table of Contents , these interactions can be
used as demonstrations.
Easy navigation with all sections and subsections linked to the Table of
Contents..
Integrated into The Web with ready links to websites like Wikipedia, Google
search, More Chemistry Help, etc.
In
the flash version, an oular tool allows for important sections of the text to be
highlighted and magnified, with the rest of the text dimmed. This is useful for
students to keep their place while reading and for teachers to emphasize a point
in class.
The
multimedia pop-ups give students a chance to visualize and interact with
programs that demonstrate different concepts.
The
text provides detailed treatment of concepts that students often find
challenging. Most of these are illustrated by worked examples.
eBooks are green and today students have grown
up reading and interacting with computers. Students are not only comfortable
with electronic media, but for ecological reasons alone, eBook must replace hard
copy.
Users: Students
This eTextbook provides many more features than are possible with hard
textbooks, and does this at a much reduced price. Although all the undergraduate
topics in physical chemistry are covered, you may not need to take them all. For
this reason, the textbook is broken into smaller modules that cover specific
topics. This provides an even greater saving.
Easy navigation, convenient hyperlinking and many features that enhance your
ability to find material easily so you can concentrate on learning.
Fully integrated into The Web, with links to Wikipedia, Google, More Chemistry
Help, and other useful on-line resources.
Interesting and informative multimedia components are built into the book and
pop-up when clicked so you can listen to explanations of the material you are
working on, and perform interactions that will help you understand the concepts.
In
the flash version, a reading ocular allows you to magnify and focus on specific
areas of text material. This helps you to keep your place while reading. In
addition there is an underline tool that permits you to highlite text.
Note-taking tool allows you to jot down your thoughts as you go, or to keep
reminders. (Flash version only)
Extensive problems are provided that are an essential part of studying for
Physical Chemistry. A full solution manual is available for free. This solution
manual was written by students for students. It is well known that peer learning
is effective, and therefore the worked-out problems provide a valuable tool for
all those interested in understanding physical chemistry at the required
level.
Author: TopTenReview General Physics (Non-Calculus) Review Overall Rating General Physics (Non-Calculus) is an educational science software title from MCH Multimedia. This application is designed to be a comprehensive high school or introductory college level course, complete with instructional text and audio explanations by a professor. In fact, the software functions almost like a well-designed textbook—so that it seems natural to talk about each topic as a chapter. This is an introductory course, but the material is challenging and definitely designed for more advanced high school students. The course requires some background in math—at least a basic understanding of some algebra and geometry principles. One of the first chapters is a helpful review of the necessary math.
Teaching Tools:
Instruction in MCH Multimedia's General Physics (Non-Calculus) is largely text-based. However, it does make good use of teaching tools that would not be possible in a traditional textbook. The screen is small and text is displayed in short, manageable chunks. In this way, students can easily focus on just one main idea before moving on to something else.
Most pages also have audio instruction. This audio is not simply a voiced version of the text, rather it's an additional explanation of the same topic. This feature simulates having a teacher or professor explain what you read in your textbook, which will be helpful for auditory learners. You can also choose to turn off the sound. Not every page has this audio instruction, and there is nothing to indicate which pages have audio available. It would be nice to see a graphic of some sort that alerts users to expect audio on a given page.
This application uses animations that vary from the simple to the complex. One of the more complex animations illustrates principles of general relativity by showing a single event (lightning striking a train) from two different points of view. Because physics is the study of matter and the forces of nature, the animations in the physics tutorials are especially plentiful and helpful. The program also makes excellent use of charts and graphs to illustrate ideas that are not obvious or concrete.
Most (but not all) of the sections include post-learning quizzes. In this way, students can check their own learning and see what topics they may not have fully understood. The quizzes generally have hints and explanations available if students get stuck.
Other tools include access to a basic calculator and online resources at MCH Multimedia's website, such as a periodic table, math principles and equations, and tables of handy information related to physics. The software also has a notebook feature. While the idea of an integrated note-taking tool is a good one, the virtual notebook is not as functional as a traditional notebook or word processor. You can't format the text, and once you enter a note, you can't edit it. This tool may be useful for some students, but others may find taking notes with a pen and paper an easier fit.
One of the stand-out tools in General Physics (Non-Calculus) is the Find feature. This is basically a searchable index that allows students to search the lessons for a certain word or phrase. From the search results, students can navigate to the found pages, and they will see their search term highlighted on the page.
Topics Covered:
This educational science software is designed to give in-depth instruction in physics. It covers the topics that you would generally expect to see in an advanced high school physics course or an introductory college course.
Topics covered in MCH Multimedia's General Physics (Non-Calculus) course:
•Math review
•Vectors
•Kinematics
•Projectile motion
•Frames of reference
•Forces
•Newton's laws
•Momentum and collisions
•Work and energy
•Rotational motion
•Gravity
•Thermodynamics
•Waves
•Sound
•Electrostatics
•Electromagnetic theory
•Pre-quantum experiments
•Quantum mechanics
•Special relativity
•Nuclear structure
Ease of Use:
General Physics (Non-Calculus) is fairly easy to install. You can purchase a physical disc or choose an internet download. We chose the download and found that installation was pretty straightforward. We did have a small problem in Vista, but an email to the company quickly solved the issue. Once you've installed the program, you'll need activation codes from MCH Multimedia to activate it.
Using this educational science software is also straightforward. There's a lot of information, and finding your way around can be challenging at first. However, once you get the hang of how the information is organized, navigation is pretty simple. On the right of the screen is a navigation bar which shows you where you are in each chapter. When you click on different chapter sections, you'll see different subheadings that you can access. There is also a toolbar on the far right of the screen. From here you can navigate to the main menu, chapter headings, the notebook and the table of contents. The table of contents marks the sections students have already visited with a check mark, helping them keep track of where they are. The Find tool and the quiz questions for the chapter can also be accessed from this toolbar. The last button on the toolbar will mute the audio.
Help/Support:
The in-program help menu directs you back to MCH Multimedia's website. There you'll find a physical address and an email address to contact for technical support. In our email communication with MCH Multimedia, we found them to be helpful and responsive to our questions.
Summary:
General Physics (Non-Calculus) is a comprehensive piece of educational science software. It is ideal for advanced high school students or introductory college students looking for a complete course in physics. The application might also be useful for students who want to supplement their school work, or for anyone wanting to brush up on general physics at that level. The depth of the content and the variety of teaching tools (text, audio, charts, graphs and animation) make General Physics (Non-Calculus) a great educational science software choice for students who want a stand-alone, in-depth science course.
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Microsoft®Windows®2000 with Service Pack 4, Windows Server® 2003 and 2008; Windows XP Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition with Service Pack 2 or 3; Windows Vista®Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with or without Service Pack 1; WIndows 7 
User-friendly interface allows for easy navigation