Science Interactive Resources

I. Briefly review the project form. Discuss the project theme, outline and time line; review the project and curriculum objectives.

The project was developed out of a need to have a meaningful way for students to reinforce the objectives of the Chemistry and Physics courses. In this way the student could have a better ability to know what areas, in a unit of study, was giving them problems. Once the student identified their problematic areas they could have them addressed at tutoring sessions. The site was designed to be interactive and give immediate feedback to students as they reviewed class material for understanding. Every unit of the courses were addressed by creating multiple choice and essay type questions along with their answers.

II. Show the audience the outcome of the project proposal.

Results and a tour of the project can be seen at: http://205.251.111.254/science/index.htm

III. Briefly comment on any successes or problems that were encountered throughout the life of the project.

Many students used the site to prepare them for their final exams and the feedback was positive. They did find some errors in the material but overall they thought it was a great resource in that the explanations were easy to understand and that the questions were similar in difficulty to what they encountered on the exam. We spent a month or so searching the web for sites that contained a similar theme and could not find any. Our ability to write JavaScript was also lacking so we had to find expertise to help us write the script. This came from two sources the web where we found sample multiple choice questions but could not get them to work, and the other was a university student who spent several hours assisting us in creating the JavaScript.

IV. Comment on any aspects of the project that you would do differently.

We were very pleased on most aspects of the project. It accomplished our objectives in that students could use the site to review for their final exams and the last two sections of the course. The biggest problem we had was the timing of the project. We started it too late in the school year and found it had to be rushed in order to be of any use for the students. The error checking is therefore not complete. It would have been great if we had several teachers and classes in other schools check the accuracy of the material as we posted each section.

V. Comment on if and how the project can be expanded next year.

The project will be definitely expanded next year to include new material, as other teachers are invited to contribute to the further expansion of the site.