A WEB APPROACH TO STATISTICS FOR A GENERAL PHYSICS COURSE

Gianni Cattani
Francesco Luigi Navarria
Tiziano Rovelli

Department of Physics, Bologna University
Faculty of Pharmacy, Bologna University
INFN - Bologna, Italy

cattani@bo.infn.it
navarria@bo.infn.it
rovelli@bo.infn.it

Abstract

The aim of the ISHTAR project is to build tools on the Web to help students to learn physics using hypermedia. The course is mainly intended for students of life sciences such as Medicine, Biology or Pharmacy, not requiring an in-depth knowledge of mathematics.
The package we present, elaborated within the didactics of physics, is divided in two levels designed to fit different students' background. It first develops the most important concepts of statistics, probability theory and error analysis, and the ultimate goal is to provide an exaustive treatment of these subjects.
The package exploits the Web capacities in terms of communication and includes Java applets created to improve the interactivity level.
We are, at present, also developing two chapters on mechanics and thermodynamics.


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