CONTENT FOR A WEB-BASED DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE IN INTRODUCTORY GENERAL PHYSICS.

There is a strong prejudice among physicists, and specialists in other mathematically intensive disciplines, that effective distance education is not feasible in their subject because of the impossibility of teaching “problem-solving ” without strong one-on-one interaction and because of the necessity to conduct meaningful laboratories which require expensive apparatus. The advent of the versatile and interactive Internet provides a means of addressing the former; some careful analysis and creative exploration help in overcoming the challenges of the latter. 1. A suite of interactive lessons (applets) is being developed at the Universities of Calgary and Alberta (in western Canada) with careful pedagogical design to address basic concepts in Elementary Physics. These highly interactive tutorials mimic a private seminar experience, combining student exploration of a physical principle with instructor “explanation at the blackboard”. 2. At the University of Guelph we have emphasized the development of teaching tools to assist students in their problem-solving skills. The “Socratic Problem Solution ” supports students in individual problem-solving by stepping them through typical multi-path problems. By working through more complex problems that are broken down into small steps, students are helped through the solution process bit b