The results show the suitability degree of each of these applets as resources for different teaching/learning environments, as well as the suitability of the evaluation tool itself. In addition, the evaluation tool simplifies the interchange of information on physics applets among teachers and lecturers. | Journal of Technology and Science Education AN EVALUATION TOOL FOR PHYSICS APPLETS Arcadi Pejuan, Xavier Bohigas, Xavier Jaén Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) Spain , , Received June 2015 Accepted October 2015 Abstract Physics applets are well known appealing resources to teach and learn physics, and a large number of them are available on the Internet. Nevertheless, not all of them are of the same quality, because such applets do not fit every specific teaching/learning purpose. The start question was which features should have a physics applet in order that it can be considered a good applet according to our experience as teachers or lecturers. The answer should be based on practical evaluations of applets from the Internet, taking quality evaluation criteria already published into account. In this way, an evaluation tool was developed as a rubric which draws attention to the different aspects of an applet that are relevant for teaching or learning a physics topic, grouping these aspects into five categories. Each category is given a separate scoring based on a preparatory qualitative evaluation of the aforementioned aspects. This evaluation tool has been tested on five physics applets by four secondaryschool teachers as experts in first-year students’ background. The results show the suitability degree of each of these applets as resources for different teaching/learning environments, as well as the suitability of the evaluation tool itself. In addition, the evaluation tool simplifies the interchange of information on physics applets among teachers and lecturers. Keywords – Multimedia, Simulations, Applets, Physics applets, Applet evaluation criteria. ---------- 1 INTRODUCTION Multimedia resources as teaching and learning tools form part of the so called ‘teaching with technology’. But the use of technology just as a novelty has often .
