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An experimental physics textbook by

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the REsearch in Learning, Assessing, and Tutoring Effectively (RELATE)

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This wiki is dedicated to a discussion how the findings of physics education research can be applied to construct problems that promote the development of problem-solving skill in college-level physics students. 

Before contributing, please read the RELATE wiki Copyright and Waiver.

Currently, the discussion contains two principle threads:

1.)  What features of physics problems confound novice problem solving techniques and/or reward expert-like problem solving techniques?

      Discussion in this thread centers around a list of expert-like problem types.

2.)  Can modeling physics be reinforced within the structure of physics problems?

      Discussion in this thread centers around a list of models for introductory mechanics.

 physics research group at MIT. 

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David E. Pritchard, Andrew Pawl, Analia Barrantes and Stephen R. Wilk

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The goal of this electronic textbook is to help you learn a new way to think about Newtonian Mechanics - our Modeling Approach to Problem Solving.  The level is introductory university, and we have chosen a WIKI format to allow you to share your insights and questions.

The Modeling Approach to Problem Solving will ask you to:

• Look at the world through the lenses of simple physical models that represent common underlying patterns and interactions in nature.
• Develop a facility in using these models to understand and solve problems with real-world applications - both qualitatively and quantitatively.
• Learn how to check your solutions to problems for reasonableness to develop confidence and to further your understanding.

The form of this textbook, a WIKI, will allow for user contributions in certain areas, and should especially encourage your comments for the authors.

Our second goal is create an electronic WIKItext that is more conducive to learning than a printed textbook.

We are particularly interested in giving you an overview of Newtonian Mechanics, for which we use a hierarchy and various summaries that effectively arrange the ideas in different ways.  We also include a glossary of technical words, and another about Interactions whose entries expand with a click to help you realize that many common words have very specific meanings in science.  This eBook can also be arranged as a series of lectures (as in a regular textbook). Furthermore, dedicated users can make other sets of lectures to shift the emphasis or change the level of sophistication. 

A convenient guide to these multiple arrangements is the Content Guide page at the top of the Table of Contents at the left.

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