
Ask HN: Do you want an App that teaches you Physics? - JabavuAdams
I&#x27;m concepting an app to teach Physics. Rather than a collection of free resources, this would be a curated, somewhat opinionated adaptive learning system. The eventual goal would be to be able to take a motivated high-school student all the way to graduate-level physics. Initially, I&#x27;d consider aiming for the content covered in a standard full-year introductory university physics course (Mechanics + Electricity &amp; Magnetism).<p>I know that there are developers and engineers out there who would like to learn more physics, but either need the structure of courses, or don&#x27;t have much time.<p>Would you pay for this? I&#x27;m thinking a Netflix-ish subscription fee. iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Linux.
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myridium
You have described a system of learning consisting only of pre-manufactured
content. I feel like the success of this venture is based on an improbable
premise: that an education in physics is possible by listening without the
opportunity to ask.

You have deigned to ask this very question on the forum. Presumably because
finding a good answer by searching for existing content was not likely to
address your question.

Now don't you think graduate-level physics is a _little_ bit more hard and
complicated to learn?

~~~
JabavuAdams
I'm imagining adding content based on the most common questions, and providing
a low-friction way for students to ask questions about the content. Good
teachers typically modify their future delivery and presentation in response
to student questions. This would be no different.

So far, I've done pretty well learning from textbooks and videos. It's rare
that a live professor adds much value for me vs. some of the best professors
online. That said, I'm a mature student so I have an approximate knowledge of
many many things. Usually they're not able to answer my questions better than
StackOverflow, Physics Forums, or HyperPhysics, etc.

I would be starting with bread and butter 1st year physics. Getting to
graduate level is aspirational, but I don't see any obvious obstacles.

Most University teaching is not that good compared to the _best_ teaching
available online. Frankly, outperforming random profs at random schools is a
pretty low bar. I've already done this just by tutoring.

Obviously 1-on-1 is better and distorts any tutoring vs. group class
comparisons. But I'm envisioning this app as being more customized than a
group class, with the aspirational goal of approaching individual tutoring
once I have enough student data.

EDIT> I should correct: the real value-add I've had from professors is when
they've done the content-development work to put together organized course
materials and/or well-thought-out problem sets well-curated suggested
readings.

~~~
myridium
I feel that you do not understand the magnitude of difficulty behind what you
are attempting. You seem to think it's going to be a breeze; that you can
solve all the problems that the MOOCs around haven't been able to solve. And
you think you can do this because... well for no particular reason as far as I
can tell. You haven't proposed any idea that is distinct from what is already
out there and is evidently not working. E.g. Udacity.

> adding content based on the most common questions, and providing a low-
> friction way for students to ask questions about the content

My criticism was about individuals asking questions. "the most common
questions" are not the best ones, and don't help those students aspiring to
learn to a higher level, who tend to ask better and more personalised
questions. In fact the better part of science is asking the right questions!
It is a talent to do so. What you will receive is a sampling of the lowest
common denominator. And most of those questions deserve a more tactful version
of "RTFM". This is my experience from tutoring-- students mostly ask questions
that were answered in the lectures, because they've been procrastinating and
not watching them. Especially a problem when the students don't commit
themselves to attending class in person. In fact the best low-friction way for
students to ask questions is... to be present during the lecture and put their
hand up.

> Frankly, outperforming random profs at random schools is a pretty low bar.
> I've already done this just by tutoring.

What you are proposing is nothing like 1-on-1 tutoring. Feedback is part of
this process. Try asking a "medium" to tell you about your relative as you
hold shut lips and a poker face. Similar to a professor trying to give a
lecture to a room full of mice.

> It's rare that a live professor adds much value for me vs. some of the best
> professors online.

In that case you aren't asking the right questions, or you aren't going to a
very good university. While my experience of in-person classes was sometimes
astoundingly poor, I would never exchange them for an online lecture series.
You can talk with a professor and learn from their expert way of thinking--
not just the content itself but the way they think about problems. You learn
through interactive dialogue-- people in the real world call this
"conversation". In addition, the collegiate atmosphere of study among the
pupils is in my opinion an extremely important component in students keeping
up with the content. Only the most disciplined people can sit down and
complete all exercises from a MOOC without interaction with others.

> the real value-add I've had from professors is when they've done the
> content-development work to put together organized course materials and/or
> well-thought-out problem sets well-curated suggested readings.

I agree, being organised does help. This applies to many things in life. Many
professors at universities are not organised because of the pressures put upon
them by the university administration, and other such factors. Also the
pressure to push through any mediocre students to pump the university's
finances and public image.

You must understand that, while it isn't impossible that you could create such
a platform that is as successful as you want it to be, the a priori knowledge
around previous similar ventures tells us something about how that might turn
out. If you believe your idea is different, then how? You have not identified
any key differences between your approach and those that have failed...

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JabavuAdams
Thanks for the food for thought, and taking the time to engage.

Edit> deleted some irrelevant personal commentary.

