Previous Next

Revision Software Physics is written for "O" Level and CSE students and comprises two tapes of revision questions and screen simulated experiments.

One essential ingredient for any educational program is a format which presents a learning situation in a way which maintains a desire to lind out what happens next. In this respect these programs succeed admirably, but flexibility is also essential.

The programs do not allow enough freedom in respect of the route a user can take through exercise. For instance, I could find no way of bypassing a section. All the exercises have to be worked through and all the questions answered correctly before moving on to the next section.

There were many misleading responses and questions which should have been edited out before publication. For instance a screen response to an answer should be "correct" or "wrong", not "yes" or "no" which can be very confusing if the question asks for a "yes" or "no". In another instance, a multi-choice question asked for an ordered list of items which would enable chemical energy to be stored using a steam kettle as an energy source and didn't include a turbine in the list

However, the programs are clever and in many cases fascinating, especially the section on radioactivity. Experiments are animated and interactive, and a tremendous amount of information and activity is compressed onto the screen; so much so that it becomes a bit confusing at times but, despite this, the programs are a valuable revision resource and well worth the money.

J.D.