Interactive virtual simulations for teaching science and math
Kristine Lang, Physics Department
Why use simulations?
Students learn better when science is connected to reality; physics can seem like it's not about the “real world,” but
labs, experiments, demonstrations and simulations connect theory to reality. These online simulations and
demonstrations help students create and manipulate that connection without having the messiness of reality come
in. These allow me to give students an opportunity to see, experience and interact with the principles in a more
tangible way as opposed to conceptually manipulating an equation.
Student reactions
Student quotes from 2008, block 2 – one of the first times she really put them in the class –Modern Physics.
Block 2, 2008 Modern Physics
“The simulations and demos were extremely helpful. I even looked them up on my own outside class.”
“The in class exercises were helpful in the fact that the simulations gave the class another way to approach the
lesson instead of just here is the equation and here is where you use it.”
Description
There are several physics demonstrations and simulations on the web but many are not good or crude; this is the
first group that has done these well. The physics are well-done; they are simulations. The advantage of these is that
you can do an experiment without the complications of the real world, as the world is more complicated than what
you are modeling. As small details and other factors become important, results don't match calculations and that
can throw students off, so these are great for getting rid of extraneous factors. Students learn well from labs, but
labs take a lot of time and equipment. These are faster and the students learn faster without the complications.
I have done virtual labs with the students as well as in-class exercises with a worksheet written around the
simulation. These are also usable as demonstrations and have also been successfully used on tests.
The PhET project is hosted at UC Boulder. It originally focused on physics simulations, and was hence named the
Physics Education Technology project, or PhET. When the project branched into chemistry, biology, mathematics
and other areas, they decided to keep the name PhET, though it no longer applies as an acronym.
“Exercises/simulations done were very helpful for visualization of the concepts
learned.”
Notes
People do post teaching ideas and worksheets on the site, but they are often simplistic, though they do provide
good ideas/starting points.
Kathy Perkins and Carl Wieman are the developers of the site and ideas and worksheets they upload are usually
the best ones.
Hardware and Software Used
Future Plans
I am always adapting and tweaking things, but I anticipate no major changes. Simulations like these are a fair
amount of work to create, so I will continue to use these. I do plan on writing more worksheets for them and will
use new ones as they become available, in addition to expanding on what I have already done.
Additionally, I have not written homework problems around them; though I will likely start. Once I have written
enough to use during class time, I will start making more homework with them.
Computer and internet, web browser with standard plugins..
Related Links
PHET http://phet.colorado.edu/
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/about/source-code (source code of simulations)