I am a physics graduate student at the University of Alaska. This website is a semester project for a class I am enrolled in: Electromagnetic Theory, PHYS 632. My topic is Index of Refraction. In researching this topic, I decided to make a website I could use for my job as a T.A. for Bush Physics, DEVS 193. The main site is designed with a very specific audience in mind (DEVS 193 students) and for a very specific purpose (to prepare them to complete the 7th lab of the semester, which is to measure the index of refraction of water).
When I began teaching high school, a very wise counselor told me to always be thinking of how to ENGAGE my students in my classroom. Otherwise, she told me, I would lose them from the beginning, and high school students are not always very forgiving.
This project then, is an attempt at engagement for my lab students. By placing the lab worksheet at the end, it makes them responsible for bringing it to lab and lets me know that they at least went through this pre-lab,even if they haven't read the textbook. I tried to make this site informative, but not so boring as to make anyone dread having to finish it. In the same manner, it is designed to be long enough to make students think about the topic, but short enough that it is not difficult to complete. Lastly, it reduces the length of the lecture in the laboratory,and leaves us with more class time for hands-on activities.
I wrote the html and css code for this website in Windows Notepad in order to teach myself more about computers. If it does not look very professional, please consider this was the first website I have ever written the code for. It involved a lot of long hours in the university computer lab, and not a few frustrated outbursts followed by trips outside to stand in the sun. Please see references for the books I used in completing this project.