Interactive physics program · Haytham A. Salama

Overview

Three screens of the program, in Arabic. In front, the law solver for pressure equals force over area, with boxes for the values, the result and the student's own estimate. Tilted behind it, the unit's home page with its six sections on the left, and a test with multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions marked 100 on the right. — The law solver in front, with the unit's sections and a test behind it.

A desktop program in Arabic for the static fluids unit of tenth-grade physics, with lessons, short videos, a law solver and tests. I designed and built it at Suleiman Sultan Basic Boys' School in Gaza, for a research study I wrote with two classmates under the school's research committee. The study won the Research Excellence Award from the Ministry of Education's West Gaza Directorate in 2017.

The problem

Many students at my school struggled with physics.

A hard subject. Students found it difficult and put off studying it.
Little motivation. Few were keen to learn it, and the study asked whether an interactive program could change that.

The solution

Each lesson moves from reading and watching to working a law and taking a test.

The whole unit in one place. The unit is split into six sections, each with the interactive book, videos, a law solver and a test, and a calculator and simple games are always one click away.

An estimate before the answer. In the law solver, students enter the values and their own estimate first, then reveal the result, so they think about the answer before they see it.

What I did

Designed and built the program, from the sign-in screen to the tests.
Wrote the study with two classmates, supervised by the school's research committee: the research question, a survey of 15 statements and its analysis.

What it offers

Six sections, one unitPressure, liquid pressure, atmospheric pressure, gas pressure, Pascal's principle and Archimedes' principle.
The interactive bookThe unit's book, one click away from every screen.
Short videosVideos that answer questions such as "What are fluids?" and "What is pressure?".
A law solverPick a law, enter the values and your estimate, then see the result.
Tests with a markMultiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, marked out of 100 when handed in.
Simple gamesGames and a calculator beside the lessons.

The study

Students rated the videos highest, and agreed most that the program raised their motivation.

We surveyed a random sample of 70 of the school's 1,180 students. In each part of the survey, one statement came out on top: physics is a hard subject, the videos were the best part of the program, and the program raised their motivation to learn physics. We recommended interactive programs for more subjects, and training for teachers in newer ways to teach science. You can read the full study (PDF, in Arabic).

In the product

The unit's home page: a clock and a calendar along the top, the program's features (the interactive book, educational videos, games, tests and solving laws), and buttons for the six sections. The student's name and role and the control panel sit on the right. — The unit's home page, with its six sections.

The pressure section: buttons to calculate the pressure law, standard pressure and force, two short videos, 'What are fluids?' and 'What is pressure?', and a 'Test your knowledge' button. — A section brings its laws, videos and test together.

The law solver for pressure equals force over area: boxes for force and area, the result, and the student's own estimate with its evaluation, then buttons to show the result and to clear the values. — The law solver asks for an estimate before it shows the result.