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Home Minds On Features

Features of the Minds On Physics Internet Modules

The Minds On Physics Internet Modules can be described by the following features:

  • Modules
    Minds On Physics is composed of 15 different modules such as the Newton's Laws module, the Momentum and Collisions module, the Static Electricity module, etc.
     
  • Missions
    Each module consists of assignments which we call missions. There may be as many as 12 missions in a module. The missions are the learning activities.
     
  • Questions
    Completion of a mission involves the answering of questions. Questions can be multiple choice, true-false, multiple select (more than one answer), numerical response, multi-part multiple choice or multiple select, and multi-part numerical response. 
     
  • Random Presentation of Questions
    MOPs consists of a large Question Bank. There are more than 4800 questions organized into ~1300 Question Groups. Question Groups are presented to students in a random order. The exact question within the group is also randomly selected. Two side-by-side students doing the same mission will have a different experience.
     
  • Challenging Questions
    Questions are carefully-crafted to require deeper understanding of a topic and induce careful reading and critical thinking.
     
  • Two Usage Modes
    There are two basic usage modes for any mission - Sudden Death mode (previously known as For Credit mode) and Marathon mode (previously known as For Practice mode). 
     
  • Sudden Death Usage Mode (aka, For Credit Mode)
    The Sudden Death usage mode has a strong mastery-learning quality. This usage mode displays a Health Bar and a Progress Bar. The Health Bar starts at 100% and the Progress Bar starts at 0%. Correctly answering a question causes the Progress bar to increase. Incorrect answers cause the Health Bar to decrease. The goal is to increase the Progress Bar to 100% before the Health Bar decreases to 0%. Students must correctly answer one question from each Question Group in order to raise the Progress Bar to 100%. Failure to do so will force the two Bars to re-set and the student will have to start over.
     
  • Marathon Usage Mode (aka, For Practice Mode)
    The Marathon usage mode works in a similar fashion but does not include a Health Bar. There is a Progress Bar that must be increased from 0% to 100% in order to complete the mission. Students must correctly answer one question from each Question Group in order to raise the Progress Bar to 100%.  There is no penalty for missing.
     
  • Validation of Student Work
    The completion of a mission will result in the display of a Trophy Screen. When using Minds On Physics in a classroom environment, the Trophy Screen can be used by teachers to validate student completion of a mission. For a more effortless validation of in-class and out-of-class completion of missions, a Teacher Account is needed. Our Task Tracker accounts track student progress when using the Sudden Death mode.
     
  • Integration With Other Resources on Our Website
    There is an intentional integration of Minds On Physics with other resources upon our website. This integration is most obvious with our written Tutorial pages, our Video Tutorial lessons, and our Curriculum Corner section. The fact that the Minds On Physics Internet Modules is surrounded by such a large array of resources facilitates their integration into lesson plans, a homework strategy, and a curriculum. And for those who use other resources besides our own, the division of Minds On Physics into discrete, narrowly-defined topics makes it a great complement to such programs.
     
  • Question Specific Help Pages
    Students will have difficulty with some questions. A mis-understood concept, a mis-interpretted sentence, a mis-used formula, ignorance regarding what a physics term means, improper algebra, missing the importance of a seemingly-subtle statement within a question are all causes for difficulty. And each of these common causes are addressed in a Help page. Each Question Group has its own question-specific Help page that provides details specific to the question. Such details might include definitions, formulas, the statement of a principle, an elaboration upon the meaning of a definition or principle, a discussion about how to think about the question, a discussion of a commonly misconceived concept, a game plan for how to approach the question, an elaboration upon how to manipulate or use a physics formula, an identification of a fine detail within the question that needs to be given attention, and an audio file with a thorough discussion of the question. Considerable time and effort have been given to the construction of these help pages. It just may be one of the most powerful parts of the program ... when it is used.
     
  • Detection of Patterns of Missing
    There's a lot going on under the hood when a student uses Minds On Physics. MOPs is continuously analyzing student answers to detect a pattern of repeated missing of questions from within the same Question Group. When such patterns of missing are detected, students are notified with an alert and the suggestion to utilize the provided Help Page for that particular Question Group. At that point, it is up to the student whether they read and study the Help page. (As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.)
     
  • Free and Paid Versions
    All of the above features are part of the Free version of Minds On Physics. There is a Paid version that adds premium features to these standard features. For information about the Paid version, visit our Teacher Accounts page.