Hartland High School

What is Minds On Physics?

• reading carefully
• thinking deeply
• pondering the meaning of a concept
• probing the relationship between ideas
• making sense of physics language
• reflecting on one's own understanding

How Does It Work?

Minds On Physics (MOPs for short) was designed to be a learning and assessment tool.  Each topic is broken down into a collection of missions.  The missions focus on one to three specific objectives or learning outcomes.  When working on a mission, a collection of questions are presented to learners one question at a time and in a random order.  Answers are immediately evaluated and feedback is given.  Learners continue to answer questions in an effort to progress through the mission.
 
Behind the scenes when questions are missed, the program is constantly analyzing answers and looking for patterns.  When a pattern is observed, learners are alerted and are provided helpful links that are specific to the questions being missed.  When a learner completes a mission, a Medal is rewarded and a Success Code is displayed.  The Success Code allows a learner to earn credit for the mission.
 

How Are Questions Organized?

Each mission in Minds On Physics consists of a collection of up to 40 questions.  Many questions are very similar, perhaps differing only in the order of the choices.  Similar questions are organized into Question Groups.  You must answer one or more questions from each Question Group in order to complete the mission.  If you miss one question within a group, another question from that same group will eventually be presented to you.

 

 

Follow the directions below and you can use MOP the App on any Android, IOS, Chrome OS or even on a Mac (Windows app not currently available).  It is way more stable than the browser version and has several very useful features that will help you succeed.  Moreover, once installed, MOP the App runs without an internet connection so you can MOP anywhere and anytime!

 

 

 

Subtle Changes to Minds On Physics the App

1. Assignments in Minds On Physics the App are no longer referred to as assignments.  We have dropped the references to assignments and now refer to these as missions.  Yes, it's a subtle change.
    
2. The two basic modes of doing MOPs are no longer called For Credit and For Practice.  We re-named For Credit mode as Sudden Death mode and we renamed For Practice mode as Marathon mode.
    
3. In the Legacy browser-based program, completing an assignment in For Credit mode earns a student a Gold Success Code.  Nearly completing an assignment in For Credit mode earns a student a Silver Success Code.  Doing Minds On Physics in For Practice mode doesn't earn the student a Success Code at all.  It works similarly in the App version with a slight twist and addition.  In MOP the App, a Gold Medal and a Gold Success Code are rewarded for successful completion of a mission in Sudden Death mode.  A Silver Medal and a Silver Success Code are rewarded for near-completion of a mission in Sudden Death mode (around 90% two or more times).  Successful completion of a mission in Marathon mode results in a Bronze Medal and a Bronze Success Code.

New Features Exclusive to Minds On Physics the App

1. It's All About Tapping
   Minds On Physics asks a lot of questions.  If doing the Legacy browser-based MOPs, that means entering your cursor into the answer field and typing in the answer from the keyboard.  That's expected if working from a desktop or laptop ... but that's no way for a mobile device to work.  So forget about the cursor and the mouse and start tapping on answers.  Once you experience how easy it is to tap your way to success in MOP the App, you won't want to return to the browser-based version.
    
2. No Log In Required
   The Legacy browser-based version of Minds On Physics requires students to log in each time using a Teacher Code and a Student ID.  Tendencies to enter these incorrectly often lead to difficulties with obtaining credit for an assignment.  That's not going to happen with Minds On Physics the App.  Students will have to create an account the first time they start up the app.  After that, there is no logging in.  Account information is stored on the device and retrieved each time the student starts a session.
    
3. Automatic Saving of Success Codes
   Students who do Minds On Physics for course credit know that they need to collect Success Codes.  There is no secure location to automatically save such Success Codes in the Legacy browser-based program.  But in Minds On Physics the App, the Success Codes are saved and organized directly on the device.  There's no need for students to write them down.  They are saved, time-stamped and organized by topic.
    
4. Collect Success Codes Earned on Other Devices
   We can easily imagine students doing Minds On Physics on a variety of devices.  Perhaps they still use the Legacy browser-based program at school and their iPad at home.  Minds On Physics makes it easy to gather all the hard-earned Success Codes onto one device.  For example, you can earn Success Codes using your iPhone or using the Legacy browser-based program and enter them onto your Chromebook.  Minds On Physics checks the validity of the Success Codes and stores them on the device (if they are valid Success Codes).
    
5. The Personal Review Bank
   One of the coolest enhancements to Minds On Physics the App is the ability to identify questions as troublesome and to gather them together into a Personal Review Bank.  Every question screen has a small red flag displayed on it.  Tapping on the flag on any given question screen will mark that question as being part of the user's Personal Review Bank.  As a quiz or test approaches, the user can open their Personal Review Bank and practice answering those troublesome questions.  If you're a conscientious student, you'll love that feature!
    
6. Built-in Help
   Those familiar with the Legacy browser-based MOPs probably know that every question is accompanied by a web page with question-specific help.  In the App version of MOPs, the Help is built into the App.  One never has to leave the App to obtain the help they need to answer the question.  Tap on the Help button, read through a couple of screens, tap to return to the question, and nail it!  Help is always a tap away!  So students: don't get frustrated ... get Help! Then get successful. 
    
7. Guest Usage
   When you purchase Minds On Physics for a mobile device, student log-on credentials are saved on that device.  Your success codes and other information are stored there too.  All this information belongs to you as the user of the device.  It's personal information and records of progress; it's your information and no one else's.  But perhaps you have a friend who would like to use your device to complete a mission or two.  No problem!  They can simply use the device as a Guest User.  They enter their own Teacher Code and their own Student ID Number and knock off a mission or two.  None of their hard-earned Success Codes or progress records are ever stored on your device, but your friend can still earn Success Codes and write them down for inclusion on their own device. 
    
8. Select all that apply ... in any order!
   The Legacy browser-based MOP program frequently asks a Select-all-that-apply-styled question.  When it does, there is the requirement of entering the answers in alphabetical order.  Many a student has selected all that applied but missed the question because the answers weren't ordered alphabetically.  This is no longer necessary with Minds On Physics the App. Select the answers in any order you wish.  MOP figures the rest out.

Having difficulties getting Minds On Physics to work from home in your browser?  MOP uses the Shockwave Player plug-in to deliver questions to your browser window. 

Unfortunately, the Chrome browser no longer supports Shockwave so you need to either use another browser like Firefox, IE, or Safari, or preferably

MOP using the new MOP the App!

 

If you are using Firefox, IE or even Safari and you cannot get the MOP program to run, perhaps you need to install the Shockwave Player.  Visit the Adobe website and download the player.  It is free and fast. In a couple of minutes, you'll be  MOP-ping from home.