Peer Review

MIT Physics 8.02: E&M Visualizations

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: May 31, 2007 by Physics

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This web site is a large collection of multimedia illustrations and simulations for Electricity and Magnetism. The material covers electrostatics, magnetostatics, Faraday's Laws, and light. This is a comprehensive site designed to provide rich illustrations of the physics of these topics. It includes a guided tour to E&M that integrates the media with an overview of the subject and more detailed course notes on specific topics.

All materials used to teach this class at MIT, including the simulations and animations, notes, assignments, readings, and labs, are available through the MIT Open Courseware site at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-02TSpring-2005/Assignments/index.htm .
Type of Material:: Video illustrations, java applets, chapter text with solved problems and assigned exercises (similar to a textbook), and additional technical reviews that explain in detail the mathematics behind the simulations.
Recommended Uses:: This material can be used in all aspects of a course.
Technical Requirements:: Java-enabled browser, Quicktime, and Shockwave.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: These materials, including the course web site, are designed to be used in a standalone fashion and offer a wider range of resources than a standard textbook. There are notes, solved problems, assigned exercises along with movies and simulations. Learning activities and goals include background reading materials for basic vocabulary and concepts, multimedia simulations for hands-on discovery, and activities and assignments for quantitative practice.
Target Student Population:: All levels, high school to early graduate school. Calculus is used in some of the materials.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Knowledge of calculus and mechanics

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: This collection of resources is both comprehensive and engaging. The topics covered, Vector Fields, Electro- and Magneto-statics, Faraday's Law, and Light cover the core topics in this level of course. The simulations provide excellent illustrations of physical phenomena that are otherwise difficult for students to grasp. The ability to change parameters on the simulations provides opportunities to explore the physics. Finally, but of particular note, the textual material is excellent, on a par with quality textbooks on the topic.
This is part of a studio-based approach to introductory physics where interactive activities are a core part of the learning process. The author provides references to some of the advantages and drawbacks to this approach.
Concerns:: It may be worth reminding students that the movies and the simulations are approximations to reality and there inevitably are assumptions made about the physics (such as viscous drag) that may not be perfectly accurate. This will help students understand the importance of model building in science.
The section on Light is not as developed as the other topics.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: As a complete course on electricity and magnetism, developed using recent advances in the understanding of how students learn physics, this resource provides a wide range of activities for learning. The completeness of the material, both topical and pedagogical, is particularly noteworthy.
Concerns:: Some more theoretic topics, such as Gauss' Law and Ampere's Law are not illustrated quantitatively in the simulations.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The materials are easily accessed and used. The operation of simulations is straightfoward. This collection has well thought out images, high quality text, and many solved problems.
Concerns:: Some of the videos are large so care should be taken if a class and/or students have a slow internet connection.
Some instructors may find that specific topics that they include in their classes are not covered in this material.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is an excellent resource and should be useful to students from AP level high school physics to senior/beginning graduate level classes. The creation and organization of these materials into a complete course is a noteworthy accomplishment for physics education.
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