Mathematics & Science Tutorials Sub-Forum

[Hootenanny]

Dear all,

PF has a great resource in the form of the https://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=151", over the years many people have posted links to some great online resources and references, some members have also contributed their own material to the forums. There are now over two hundred threads containing tutorials, summaries, lecture notes and video lectures.

The purpose of this thread is two-fold; firstly, to raise awareness of the Tutorials Sub-Forum and secondly, as a place to gather feedback and suggestions for the Tutorials Sub-Forum. To get the ball rolling I suggest the following points of discussion:

1. Did you even know that we had a Tutorial section?

2. Do you ever use it, if so how often?

3. Have you found any of the tutorials useful?

4. Have you considered adding a tutorial of your own?

5. What do you think of the quality of the tutorials in the forum?

Any other comments or suggestions from all members are more than welcome.

 

[Moonbear]

Thanks so much for posting this and bringing this to the member's attention.

Some of the tutorials have been provided by scientists and lecturers from outside the forums, while others have been written by our very own members. We welcome additional contributions to the tutorials.

If anyone needs assistance in collaborating on a tutorial, or wants a way to prepare drafts and have others here review and edit them, the mentors can also assist with this process (i.e., if you start a thread with a rough draft, and invite others to help edit, we can move the final version into it's own thread and remove the drafts that might be confusing later).

 

[_Mayday_]

1. Did you even know that we had a Tutorialsection?

I had no idea I will check it out!

 

[_Mayday_]

Wow, that's brilliant, I had no idea I love all the video lectures available. Now I have something to do in my half term =].

 

[Hootenanny]

Wow, that's brilliant, I had no idea I love all the video lectures available. Now I have something to do in my half term =].

I'm glad that you found them interesting/useful

 

[_Mayday_]

*Bump*

I will complete the survey as I have used this section of this site quite a bit now.

1. Did you even know that we had a Tutorial section?
I do now, thanks to this thread actually. I use the Introductory Physics section. Smart88 has a brilliant link to a site.

2. Do you ever use it, if so how often?
Once a week every Sunday I look for a lecture related to physics out of curiosity. While looking I sometimes come across a good tutorial that interests me.

3. Have you found any of the tutorials useful?
Yes very much so, it is nice to have a source of information on the internet that is checked people who know best.

4. Have you considered adding a tutorial of your own?
I am half way through on vectors are there are so many questions in homework help related to it. I am very busy at the moment and would need it checked as I myself am not a teacher but I hope that it helps as it is reasonably straight forward. Possibly one on Kinematics though I haven't thought that much about it.

5. What do you think of the quality of the tutorials in the forum?
I really cannot comment, I take the tutorials to be corrects and put my trust into them. :shy:

 

[Pythagorean]

no
never
n/a
n/a
n/a

thanks for the link though!

 

[qspeechc]

1.) Yes
2.)No
3.)never checked
4.)Yes, but I don't think I'm qualified to do so
5.)never checked

Probably the main reason I don't check out the tutorial sub-forum, is because I would much rather read and study a text from a book than a computer screen.

 

[Hootenanny]

1.) Yes
2.)No
3.)never checked
4.)Yes, but I don't think I'm qualified to do so
5.)never checked

Thanks for the reply!

Probably the main reason I don't check out the tutorial sub-forum, is because I would much rather read and study a text from a book than a computer screen.

That's a fair point, exended reading from a monitor isn't particularly easy on the eyes. Would you perhaps make more use of the Tutorials if they were available in a more printer friendly format (PDF or printable versions etc.)?

 

[Kurdt]

I think printer friendliness is a key issue for most people. I know I almost always print off any article I read. It serves as a good record of what one has read as well. As a reference resource however I don't think printer friendliness is all that important. I suppose its up to whoever provides the tutorial to decide what its main purpose will be.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

1. Did you even know that we had a Tutorial section?

Yes.

2. Do you ever use it, if so how often?

Occasionally, to see if there's anything worth looking at.

3. Have you found any of the tutorials useful?

Yes, the one on the fundamentals of the rules of derivation was pretty good.

4. Have you considered adding a tutorial of your own?

Yes, and have done, though not sure how much use it was, seemed a shame to waste all that latex and typing though.

5. What do you think of the quality of the tutorials in the forum?

Very good - excellent generally.

 

[Hootenanny]

3. Have you found any of the tutorials useful?

Yes, the one on the fundamentals of the rules of derivation was pretty good.

For a moment there I thought you said "differentiation" ...

4. Have you considered adding a tutorial of your own?

Yes, and have done, though not sure how much use it was, seemed a shame to waste all that latex and typing though.

It's a nice addition, and I'm sure some people will find it very useful/interesting. It's getting about 18 hits a day so people are reading it

Thanks for the comments.

==============================================================

2. Do you ever use it, if so how often?
Once a week every Sunday I look for a lecture related to physics out of curiosity. While looking I sometimes come across a good tutorial that interests me.

3. Have you found any of the tutorials useful?
Yes very much so, it is nice to have a source of information on the internet that is checked people who know best.

It's good to know that some people use them quite regularly and find them useful.

4. Have you considered adding a tutorial of your own?
I am half way through on vectors are there are so many questions in homework help related to it. I am very busy at the moment and would need it checked as I myself am not a teacher but I hope that it helps as it is reasonably straight forward. Possibly one on Kinematics though I haven't thought that much about it.

It's great that your contributing to the Tutorials, the more people that help out the better the resource will become (with proper quality controls).

5. What do you think of the quality of the tutorials in the forum?
I really cannot comment, I take the tutorials to be corrects and put my trust into them. :shy:

Since we have a large number of people at PF who are proficient and/or experts in physics, maths and the related fields any errors generally get corrected immediately or very soon afterwards.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[_Mayday_]

Hoot, I will try and finish that tutorial and then I will post it into you via pm or what?

 

[Hootenanny]

Hoot, I will try and finish that tutorial and then I will post it into you via pm or what?

Hey Mayday,

Thanks for putting the effort into write a tutorial. There's no need to PM it to me first, there's no formal review process, you can just go straight ahead and post it in the relevant Tutorial's sub-forum. However, if you would like me to have a read through it, I'd be more than happy to.

 

[_Mayday_]

Thanks. Well I may have already said, it is on vectors and covers things like tension. It is massive, but I will include an inidex at the beginning. I have quite a lot of diagrams I have drawn out I don't know if it is possible to include them as images and not as links. I am also using tex a little I don't know if that is possible either. I have kept it fairly simple, just resolution of vectors and resolution of forces on a plain. I have included a few questions, which will be int he second post, with the answers in whit below. I would say I am halfway, but I am quite busy so don't expect it too soon

I guess if it helps one or two people it'll be worth it

 

[Kurdt]

Thanks. Well I may have already said, it is on vectors and covers things like tension. It is massive, but I will include an inidex at the beginning. I have quite a lot of diagrams I have drawn out I don't know if it is possible to include them as images and not as links. I am also using tex a little I don't know if that is possible either. I have kept it fairly simple, just resolution of vectors and resolution of forces on a plain. I have included a few questions, which will be int he second post, with the answers in whit below. I would say I am halfway, but I am quite busy so don't expect it too soon

I guess if it helps one or two people it'll be worth it

Images and tex will work, in the tutorials forum. Tex won't work in PM's and I'm not sure about images if that's what you were worried about.

 

[Hootenanny]

I have quite a lot of diagrams I have drawn out I don't know if it is possible to include them as images and not as links.

Yes you can include images directly, but you have to host them on an external site. There's a button on the toolbar that looks like a picture (mountains on a yellow background), click on it and enter the URL of the image into the pop-up box. Alternatively, you can add images as attachments (on the PF server) and reference them from your text.

I am also using tex a little I don't know if that is possible either.

Yes, LaTeX is also possible in the Tutorial's forums. You can code it in the same way as the other forums.

I have kept it fairly simple, just resolution of vectors and resolution of forces on a plain. I have included a few questions, which will be int he second post, with the answers in whit below. I would say I am halfway, but I am quite busy so don't expect it too soon

Sounds great! Don't rush, your off-line commitments are more important.

I guess if it helps one or two people it'll be worth it

I imagine it'll help more than one or two people. Thanks again for your contribution

Edit: Kurdt slipped in before me! Hey Kurdt long time no speak

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

For a moment there I thought you said "differentiation" ...

That's in fact what I meant? Why I typed derivation I don't know?

 

[Hootenanny]

That's in fact what I meant? Why I typed derivation I don't know?

Then I'm a happy man, thanks SD!

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Then I'm a happy man, thanks SD!

Np, it was a well written piece, and was helpful to me and no doubt plenty of others.

 

[Hootenanny]

I've noticed that there are usually several threads per day posted in the 'Tutorials' sub-forum, which should be posted either in the homework forums or in the main forums. Tutorials, especially in UK universities (I'm not sure about the US and the rest of the world) are usually used to refer to classes where students may go and ask questions regarding homeworks and bookwork. I know that there is a sticky at the top of the Tutorial sub-forums explaining their purpose, but we all know that the stickies are very rarely read. Perhaps it might be an idea to rename the 'Tutorials' sub-forum as something else, "Mathematics & Science Resources" for example, to avoid the confusion.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I think the problem might be that some people don't understand the word tutorials as well. I'm sure people with English as their first language understand that a tutorial is a freer form lecture with a tutor (usually your course tutor) Ie some sort of teaching resource. But others? Some might assume it's an area to get advice from teachers? If you see what I mean. Don't know...

 

[ZapperZ]

I've noticed that there are usually several threads per day posted in the 'Tutorials' sub-forum, which should be posted either in the homework forums or in the main forums. Tutorials, especially in UK universities (I'm not sure about the US and the rest of the world) are usually used to refer to classes where students may go and ask questions regarding homeworks and bookwork. I know that there is a sticky at the top of the Tutorial sub-forums explaining their purpose, but we all know that the stickies are very rarely read. Perhaps it might be an idea to rename the 'Tutorials' sub-forum as something else, "Mathematics & Science Resources" for example, to avoid the confusion.

I kinda agree. Certainly the word "Tutorial" has different meanings even within the US educational system. Let me see if I can get the Admin attention on this.

Zz.

 

[Kurdt]

Thats a good idea Hoot. If the problems really are due to the ambiguity of the word tutorial then changing the name to something more explicit might help a lot.

 

[Hootenanny]

I kinda agree. Certainly the word "Tutorial" has different meanings even within the US educational system. Let me see if I can get the Admin attention on this.

Zz.

Cheers ZapperZ, much appreciated

 

[Hootenanny]

Another point to consider is that when one logs in, the first forum at the top is the Tutorials Sub-Forum, perhaps it might also be an idea to move it down the list to below the Homework Forums.

I'm not trying to create work for the Admin, just reduce the number of threads the Mentors have to move.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Would changing Tutorial to Guides? Or Lessons?

 

[ZapperZ]

I think changing it to Mathematics & Science Resources (Or Mathematics & Science Lessons) as suggested would be more descriptive than what it is now.

Zz.

 

[Astronuc]

And parenthetically adding (Posting Homework Not Allowed)

Actually either M&S Resources or Lessons would work. Any other comparable term?

Otherwise restrict the posting permissions?

 

[Hootenanny]

Would changing Tutorial to Guides? Or Lessons?

I think changing it to Mathematics & Science Resources (Or Mathematics & Science Lessons) as suggested would be more descriptive than what it is now.

Zz.

Out of the three I would prefer Resources or Guides. Lessons could again imply that one could request assistance, as in a school lesson.

And parenthetically adding (Posting Homework Not Allowed)

This I like

 

[Moonbear]

I agree with Hoot that "lesson" would leave us with the same problem as "tutorial." I don't think "guides" quite conveys the content adequately. Then again, "resources" could sound like it's just a list of websites. So, I'm a bit torn between the options so far...to address the issue raised, certainly resources or guides are the better of the options. I certainly do support a name change to stem the confusion. Perhaps we could give folks a little longer to brainstorm some other alternative names before making a final decision (if we come up with a short list, we could always put it up for a member vote if we can't decide any other way).

Anyone have a thesaurus handy?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Yeah type thesaurus into google.

Tutorial: academic, cultural, didactic, informational, informative, instructive, scholarly, scholastic.

Lesson:assignment, chalk talk*, class, coaching, drill, education, exercise, homework, instruction, lecture, period, practice, quiz, reading, recitation, schooling, skull session, study, task, teaching, test, tutoring

Education: apprenticeship, background, book learning*, brainwashing*, breeding, catechism, civilization, coaching, cultivation, culture, direction, discipline, drilling, edification, enlightenment, erudition, finish, guidance, improvement, inculcation, indoctrination, information, knowledge, learnedness, learning, literacy, nurture, pedagogy, preparation, propagandism, proselytism, reading, rearing, refinement, scholarship, schooling, science, study, teaching, training, tuition, tutelage, tutoring

 

[Kurdt]

Mathematics and Science References? Perhaps with that one would have the problem of people thinking it was just links to websites as Moonbie said before.

 

[Astronuc]

How about Library. Reading Only.

Shhh! No Talking, Eating, Drinking, or hmm-hmm

 

[Moonbear]

How about Library. Reading Only.

Shhh! No Talking, Eating, Drinking, or hmm-hmm

Hmm...SD, did your thesaurus have the noun versions of those words rather than adjectives?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Hmm...SD, did your thesaurus have the noun versions of those words rather than adjectives?

God knows to be honest I wasn't paying attention. If you want to look them up just type thesaurus into google.

 

[Moonbear]

tutorial (n)

Synonyms: class, lesson, seminar, lecture, discussion group

http://encarta.msn.com/thesaurus_/tutorial.html

Not helpful. The other thesauruses...thesauri...thesaur drat...I tried didn't have any entries or only had the adjective form.

 

[Hootenanny]

Okay, to sumarise the suggestions we have thus far:

1. Mathematics & Science Resources
2. Mathematics & Science Guides
3. Mathematics & Science Lessons
4. Mathematics & Science Library

Out of the four I prefer resources or library (not sure whether Astro was joking though ). After playing about with the thesaurus for a while I've come up with a few more suggestions,

• Mathematics & Science Learning Materials
• Mathematics & Science Materials
• Mathematics & Science Articles

Anyone else have any other ideas? All comments welcome

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

To be honest they all look pretty good, but since it's hard to decide between them not knowing how and what and why the way people interpret things, I think it would be a stirling idea (as mentioned by Moonbear) To put it to the vote, to see what the vox populai is, and then go from there. Obviously the final decision is in the hands of GB and the mentors, but I can't see any harm in asking...

I like number 1 personally but I could go for any of them. With a sticky saying:

Do not post homework questions here you marshmellow!

Or something simillar p'raps?

 

[Hootenanny]

if we come up with a short list, we could always put it up for a member vote if we can't decide any other way

To be honest they all look pretty good, but since it's hard to decide between them not knowing how and what and why the way people interpret things, I think it would be a stirling idea (as mentioned by Moonbear) To put it to the vote, to see what the vox populai is, and then go from there. Obviously the final decision is in the hands of GB and the mentors, but I can't see any harm in asking...

I agree that a vote is a good idea, perhaps as you say not to make the final decision, but it would help gauge the opinion of the general PF readership.

 

[Astronuc]

Okay, to sumarise the suggestions we have thus far:

1. Mathematics & Science Resources
2. Mathematics & Science Guides
3. Mathematics & Science Lessons
4. Mathematics & Science Library

Out of the four I prefer resources or library (not sure whether Astro was joking though ). After playing about with the thesaurus for a while I've come up with a few more suggestions,

• Mathematics & Science Learning Materials
• Mathematics & Science Materials
• Mathematics & Science Articles

Anyone else have any other ideas? All comments welcome

Learning Resources?

I think Learning Materials seems to reflect the intent. The bottom line is that it contains texts or links to sites that have lectures or notes on a variety of math and science topics. The objective is to discourage HW postings, since we have HW and discussion forums for the purpose of HW and discussion.

 

[Gokul43201]

Educational Resources?

Lectures in Science?

 

[Moonbear]

I like the learning materials version. That seems to describe the content well without ambiguity...I think.

 

[Hootenanny]

I've just logged on now and seen that it's been changed. Thanks Greg

 

[Kurdt]

Looks good. Let's hope it works

 

[Astronuc]

Cool! Thanks Greg.

And thanks, Hoot, for your efforts.

 

[Hootenanny]

And thanks, Hoot, for your efforts.

No problem, like Kurdt says, let's hope it works! It would be nice to get some feedback (after a suitable period of time) from the mentors on whether the name change has had any effect.

 

[Hootenanny]

It would be nice to get some feedback (after a suitable period of time) from the mentors on whether the name change has had any effect.

So it's coming up to a week after the forum has been renamed, have the mentors noticed a change in the number of inappropriate posts there, or has it all been a waste of time?

 

[Kurdt]

So it's coming up to a week after the forum has been renamed, have the mentors noticed a change in the number of inappropriate posts there, or has it all been a waste of time?

Haha, talk about timing. I just reported one. I reported one other which is a decrease for me, but like you say it will be best if the mentors give their feedback.

 

[Hootenanny]

Haha, talk about timing. I just reported one. I reported one other which is a decrease for me, but like you say it will be best if the mentors give their feedback.

Yeah, great timing . That post really irritates me because they aren't even a new member, they've been here for nearly three years!