Academic Website to answer student queries

Updated on: Friday, May 11, 2012

Finding that classrooms are not the best place to deal with shy students, a physics teacher of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom has come up with an innovative website to reach out to them and others who may have queries on the subject.

To his delight the academic website has become a hit with the email attached to it flooded with an average of 25 queries daily.

“Most questions relate to homework. I usually don’t take such queries seriously as my focus is more on genuine academic doubts,” says Mr Mathew Abraham who has taught physics for over 15 years.

At first only his students posted questions on the website, but other students too began to use it .

The website was started following a survey, which found that while many students had genuine doubts on the subject in class, they were afraid to raise them for fear of being made fun of by their classmates. Many preferred asking questions without being identified .

“I could either install a box which students could put their queries into without being identified, or start a website. I thought the second option was better," Mr Abraham says.

All students have to do is use the Ask a Question link to reach the email inbox of the site administrator.

The questions are answered after consulting experts or physics teachers and published on the site. The user is also intimated about the answer posted if he or she gives the correct email address while registering.
If the questions need research they are posted on the site for public response through comments and mail. The posts published on the site are also linked to FaceBook at www.facebook.com/askphysics.

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