<html> <head> <style> .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } </style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> Hi Gary, Yes, for younger students giving them the options to choose materials they know would be better than giving them numbers they wouldn't understand (they would be nice in a more advanced level).  I know kids find the Activity fascinating just as it is, but I am looking forward to seeing what else you will do with it. Caryl > CC: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; asafpm@gmail.com; bcjordan@gmail.com > From: gary@garycmartin.com > To: cbigenho@hotmail.com > Subject: Re: [IAEP] Physics > Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:00:42 +0100 > > On 30 Jun 2009, at 17:21, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > > Hi All, > > > > I sent this yesterday, but it got filtered out by some machine since > > I didn't send it as a "reply". So I am sending it again today. > > > > This is the "old science teacher" in me talking...I think the > > Physics Activity has great potential for getting students interested > > in Physics and in thinking like scientists. I watched a 13-year-old > > girl play with it at the Bozeman LUG meeting last week. She loved > > experimenting with the shapes to see what they would do. > > > > How do scientists think and work? They observe, take notes, make > > predictions (hypotheses) test them, and repeat. This program is > > perfect for that! We need someone to design some simple experiments > > tied to curriculum goals that will help students of various levels > > enjoy "playing scientist" with the Physics Activity as they learn a > > tiny bit about physics and a lot about thinking like a scientist. > > Many thanks for the feedback! :-) > > > I haven't played enough to know what all is included in the > > Activity. Does it have, for example, the option of changing the > > "material" an object is "made of"? > > In the latest release (Physics-2), no, there is no user-interface for > trying different materials, though this is on my list of things to > explore. Keep in mind that (I think) Physics should have as simple a > user interface as possible, so young kids just play. But, I'll likely > try a few mock-ups where the current set of buttons have hover > palettes for additional (advanced) options – like Paint does (just > click a brush and start painting, hover over the brush button and you > get some more settings for size and shape). > > Currently all objects have the same material settings: > > density=1.0 > restitution=0.16 > friction=0.5 > > So we have these variables to potentially expose in the UI, or perhaps > wrap them up into some pre-set materials (rock, rubber, wood, iron, > type thing)? > > Regards, > --Gary </body> </html>