Hope College Physics Department Research Experiences for Undergraduates Summer 2007 Project Summary

The College Physics course has long been known among students as a difficult course to understand. The ideas presented vary in complexity, but many topics are difficult to understand because a traditional textbook is often read as if it is a casual piece of literature. Because active reading is not employed, students learn very little content directly from the textbook, and depend on classroom time to learn the basics rather than dig deeper into the material. Thus, the College Physics textbook was converted into an electronic textbook with multiple goals in mind. The first goal is to model active reading strategies for the students, the second goal is to provide students with (nearly) instant feedback as they interact with the textbook, and the third goal is provide students with online experiences that clarify the concepts that are difficult to convey purely with written language.