St. Mary’s Online Wins 5 Awards

St. Mary's Physics Online won the Newsday.com Cool Site Award and the recipient of the EduHound Spotlight Class- room Award in March of 2003.  The International Association of WebMasters and Designers selected St. Mary's Physics Online as the winner of the 2002-2003 Golden Web Award. St. Mary's Physics Online was a recipient of The Teacher's Comer Award of Excellence for the month of April, and Education World honored St. Mary's Physics Online with its "Web Wizard" award.

 What makes St. Mary's Physics Online the winner among thousands of educational links? "Animations and interactive JAVA applets help students get a visual understanding of what they are learning," said physics instructor Anthony Mangiacapre, designer of the site. Junior Madan Kumar agreed, adding, "If you're told how something happens it's hard to visualize, but once you see it, it really makes sense."

Mr. Mangiacapre makes full use of his classroom teaching tools, including the whiteboard, laboratory supplies and textbooks. The use of the Internet as an educational tool is an incentive for students to study at home, and be more focused in class. "You don't have to play catch-up when it comes to taking notes. We can pay attention to what he [Mr. Mangiacapre] is saying, and come to understand physics, instead of just memorizing notes."

www.stmary.ws/physics/home also provides links to interactive sites where students can find additional experiments and challenges. In 1996, physics students created a site called "Making Waves" that explores sound and electromagnetic radiation. It also won Newsday's Cool Site of the Month Award and can be viewed on the site with other student sites, crossword puzzles created by students, and in-class photos.

 Mr. Mangiacapre, a teacher at St. Mary's since 1989, has been creating web pages since the World Wide Web was born. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and two masters degrees: one in secondary education from Queens College, and one in instructional technology from NYIT.