Stpmwiki Physics

[senghong79]

from viewtopic.php?f=3&p=1467#p1467

Good day,
I do apologise for the delay in replying. Thanks for the shared view.

With regard to STPM WIKI, i would be honored to help with the physics part. However, i have a question and some things to make clear beforehand.

Firstly, I believe i would be of help as i have a first class BSc from The University of Manchester , UK ( pardon my boasting). However due to my inexperience with teaching, numerous shortcomings would surface. If you would be willing to bear with it and advise me from time to time that would be most appreciated.

This year i have been assigned by the Kelantan state education department to plan a project / programme for my physics students. Initially i intended to build a physics portal with resources comprising text and other media like simulations as a learning aid. Alas, my IT capabilities make this rather far fetching. Your offer comes timely and i would love it if i could direct my students to the physics section once it's done.
Could i name my collaboration in stpmwiki as part of my project?
I would give full credit to your site and you in the documentations.

What i have to give is willingness and enthusiasm.. I hope your could agree to the request and still welcome me on board.

Mei Lin Puan

You can actually start right way at stpmwiki.com. You just need to register an account there and you can start a physics section directly too. That said, I usually build my materials at a temporary mirror site before publishing it at stpmwiki, email me at senghong79@gmail.com for the link as I don't want google to index the temp site. You can probably start testing there first.

As for usage, just keep in mind that the software is basically the same as wikipedia.com. Basically anything that is done on wikipedia.com can be done at stpmwiki.com. You can refer to http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki for documentation. I can also install any extensions (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Extensions) if required. For example, there are extensions to enable embedding of flash files. Basically the only thing I have added myself now is the <hide></hide> tag which was essential to the way I wanted to present the materials.

[MeiLinPuan]

well that was very prompt. Ah the joy of school holidays.
Thank you for the welcome.
As you mentioned, you would like to start off with publishing a digital version of physics past papers? I have CD's from Longman and Fajar bakti which includes STPM phy 1994-2007. These were given permission for publication from MPM. However, i doubt these files can be used as that would be a violation of copyright.
Besides that, i have no access to past papers.

[senghong79]

About where to start, it would be entirely up to you, as it will be unfair for me to impose anything.

As for the past year papers, yes, we can't use those CD's, and we will have to do it manually. Furthermore, there will be translation work for papers before 2003. Plus, I never do look at those suggested answers, not because of copyright, but because some of them are of questionable quality/suitability.

I might be able to find some time when I am back in kl in mid-late december to go back to my old school and scan a copy of everything. I don't foresee that I will have much time to do anything with it after that though, as I have to start preparing add maths materials too (first time teaching ). Perhaps I can mail a cd to you containing all the scans.

[MeiLinPuan]

hi there,
Regarding the exam papers,thanks for offering. It would be helpful . The school i'm in just started offering form six last year so the question bank is limited

I think what i can do is to build notes and examples as the topics progress through the year. Probably post tutorials online too.

Everything including graphics/ other aid must be built from scratch?

Thx for the wiki temp site link .
It's been some time since i ever worked with html... gosh and the last time wasn't with satisfactory results either.

Any suggestions on good softwares to use for building diagrams?

cheers

[senghong79]

You don't need to know html (though in some places you can use it), it's all wiki code, and maths formulas are handled through TEX.

I am searching for suitable image program too. I found a few promising ones such as http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/ but have yet the time to learn it. I do aim to use only open source programs, and post the source files for every image along with the image itself so that anyone can edit it, but that is just an aim and not a rule.

[MeiLinPuan]

Hey there,
Finally got over my fears and dabbed around with the temp site. It's intimidating even though it's a mirror site.
How does the equation thing work? I clicked on it but I'm unable to get the equations looking right. I'm guessing there are codes to use for different symbols?

many thx

[senghong79]

Hi, please refer to
http://www.stpmwiki.com/index.php/Help:Contents
You can use the online equation editor while familiarizing yourself with the syntax.

[MeiLinPuan]

Hi there,
i've gotten a loose grip on the equation editor but the amount of work to display equations is killing me!
sorry to ask another elementary question.. how do you embed an image? i tried with the embed tag but i was stopped from uploading an image.
haha the Dia is killing me also because i havent found have mathematical symbols on the software yet

by the way , u mentioned that you are teaching STPM add maths next year . does that mean you're teaching both STPM phy and add maths?

[senghong79]

Hi, don''t worry, you will get used to it. More pressing for physics will be diagrams. I am trying to work on some diagrams for maths too, I will let you know if I find something. Sorry I forgot to enable uploads in the mirror site. You can try it again now.

I meant add maths SPM (form 4), so next year I will be teaching upper 6 maths paper 1, upper 6 physics and form 4 add maths. Have to start from scratch for add maths, so I don't foresee I will have time for StpmWiki physics until end of 2010 earliest. I hope to start doing full physics lessons then, it will be just in time for my next batch of physics students of 2011.

[senghong79]

Hi, I am not able to get hold of the past year papers as there aren't teachers around in my ex-school now. I will try to get help from other teachers.

[MeiLinPuan]

Hey there, thanx for the effort
I'm getting nervous with school reopening soon. All the best with your year

by the way, i've transferred some content over from the mirror site to the main by copy-paste the codes but i had to reupload the individual files. i wonder if this is correct?

happy new year.

[senghong79]

Hey there, thanx for the effort
I'm getting nervous with school reopening soon. All the best with your year

by the way, i've transferred some content over from the mirror site to the main by copy-paste the codes but i had to reupload the individual files. i wonder if this is correct?

happy new year.

All the best to you too. Yes, it's correct as they are separate sites.

[MeiLinPuan]

hi there , how's first week this year been ?
Bit of problem here with file uploading again. I can upload files fine in the mirror site but not in the main. it keep saying there is an internal error.

also, when i choose to "upload a new version of this file" when i intend to change the file but use the same destination it still outputs the older version. I've resorted to uploading to a different destination which works except for the warning that it's a duplicate of the older file. How do i delete an old file i no longer want clogging up the logs?

that's one nasty string of questions. I probably shouldnt be bugging you with technical questions but i have to admit reading the software guide is too daunting. Lots of thanks for the help.

[senghong79]

Hi, for me, a bit of uncertainty in the first week but hopefully things will become better soon. I will check it during the weekend and will get back to you.

[senghong79]

Bit of problem here with file uploading again. I can upload files fine in the mirror site but not in the main. it keep saying there is an internal error.

also, when i choose to "upload a new version of this file" when i intend to change the file but use the same destination it still outputs the older version. I've resorted to uploading to a different destination which works except for the warning that it's a duplicate of the older file. How do i delete an old file i no longer want clogging up the logs?

that's one nasty string of questions. I probably shouldnt be bugging you with technical questions but i have to admit reading the software guide is too daunting. Lots of thanks for the help.

Hi, I can't duplicate your error. If it still happens, can you email me the file mentioned?
As for deleting, wiki software generally don't have permanent deleting facility, it is meant to be that way. The logs won't really be a problem nor will it slow down anything else. That being said, I also dislike long logs which is why I try to finish one whole page at the temp site, and then only submit it one shot.