Physics 2000 : Goal and Pedagogical aspects

Physics 2000 website relies heavily on the use of interactive "applets". These are different from the typical animations you see on the Internet because you can actually interact with them. 

The goals of the Physics2000 Educational Initiative are :

To make physics more accessible to students and people of all ages and to counter its current negative image.

• by developing an innovative Internet Website, aimed at all ages, emphasizing imagery, interactivity and hierarchical organization.
• by developing live classroom courses for undergraduate non-science majors with unconventional topical organization and web support.

To demonstrate the connection between modern technology and earlier basic research.

• by working backwards from familiar current devices and technologies to general principles established much earlier by basic experiment and theory.

To foster an appreciation of the accomplishments of 20th century physics, as we approach the year 2000.

• by focusing public attention on current research achievements in physics and explaining their significance.
• by developing new inderdisciplinary and cross-topical undergraduate courses for both majors and non-major
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 The guiding pedagogical principles in the Physics2000 Website are:

Tailor the learning process to the hypertext medium of the World Wide Web.

• The student receives information in units of the "page" and the "screen." Instructions should be broken up naturally into a sequence of such units.
• Information can also be sorted by levels of difficulty using the hierarchical structure of HTML (see next page).

Make the learning experience interactive.

Organize material from familiar to abstract.

Make the learning experience friendly.

Source: Physics 2000