Learning about the Physical World Virtually: computer simulations from the Physics Education
Technology Project
Noah Finkelstein
Kathy Perkins
University of Colorado
PTEC Workshop 2006
noah.finkelstein@colorado.edu
This workshop will explore the use of computer simulations to teach physics concepts for
students from elementary school to graduate school. The simulations range from introductory
concepts (rubbing balloons) to advanced level concepts (cutting edge research on optical control
of quantum mechanical phenomena). We will focus predominantly on introductory level
materials, how these tools were designed, research on the use and success of these simulations,
and educational applications. Participants will be given ample opportunity to explore the
computer simulations, discuss their key features, and contribute to the growing database of
classroom applications of these simulations. All of the computer simulations as well as lessons
using these simulations are freely available online for download at http://phet.colorado.edu
© 2006 PhET, University of Colorado
phet.colorado.edu
Exploring Sims for Teaching:
1. Choose one of the following simulations to explore:
Circuit Construction Kit (CCK)
Masses and Springs
2. Explore the simulation (play with everything!) and while doing so ….
(If you choose CCK, right click on components!)
a. Develop a list of learning goals that you think can be addressed by the sim, e.g. physics
concepts that students can discover or explore with the sim.
b. Reflect on what the sim provides as a learning tool that is different than or the same as
other learning tools (textbook, lab, lecture), if anything?
© 2006 PhET, University of Colorado
phet.colorado.edu
Evaluating Sim-coupled Activities – Masses and Springs – COMPARING USES
Sample Problem A: ACTIVITY TYPE 1
1. Open the Masses and Springs sim.
a. Hang the 50 g mass on Spring #1 and make sure it
is at rest. How much is the spring stretched from its
original equilibrium position?
b. What is the spring constant for this spring?
c. Now use this same spring to measure the mass of
the red mass. What is its mass?
d. If you make the spring constant larger (stiffer
spring) or smaller, how does the distance of the stretch
change?
Sample Problem B: ACTIVITY TYPE 2
1. In a grocery store, we weigh our vegetables on spring
scales.
a. If you tried to hang from the vegetable scale to
measure your mass, this would not work. Explain why
you think it would fail?
b. Open the Masses and Springs sim. Explore all the
features.
c. (Work with your group to) develop an approach
for using these tools as a scale (like the vegetable scale)
where you can measure the mass of the colored masses.
Describe your approach and why your approach makes
sense, including the physics principles that support your
reasoning.
d. What do you measure for the mass of the red
mass?
e. How does the behavior of the scale depend on the
spring constant (stiffness) of the spring used? Under
what conditions would you want to use a spring with a
small spring constant versus one with a large spring
constant? Include your reasoning that supports your
answer.
f. What change could you make to the vegetable
scale so that it could be used to measure your weight?
Explain your reasoning.
------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------What do you think a student will learn from this
What do you think a student will learn from this
problem?
problem?
How is this problem the same as or different than a
traditional back-of-the-book problem? How would a
student’s approach to this problem be the same or
different?
How is this problem the same as or different than a
traditional back-of-the-book problem? How would a
student’s approach to this problem be the same or
different?
Physics Education Technology Project Workshop
PTEC Annual Meeting 2006
3/26/2006
Creating Sim-coupled Activities using a Guided Inquiry Approach to Teaching
The PhET sims (http://phet.colorado.edu) are specifically designed and tested to support student learning. However, they
are only a tool for learning. What students are asked to do with the sims is at least as important as the sim itself for
creating a productive learning experience for the students in which they can achieve desired learning goals. While the
PhET sims may be used in many different types of activities, we believe that they are best used when integrated into
activities which use a guided inquiry approach to learning. Guided inquiry activities should provide opportunities for
students to construct their own understanding of physics ideas. To help teachers create student-centered activities using a
guided inquiry approach, we provide the following suggestions:
1. Define specific learning goals and use these to guide your design. The learning goals need to be specific enough that
you could write a clear question that would measure whether the student has learned the goal. An activity should
challenge the students to learn something from the sim.
2. Require students to use sense making and reasoning to
• construct their own understanding of the physics
• discover and make sense of cause-and-effect relationships
• link between and make sense of multiple representations
• use measurement tools to test their ideas.
The sim activity should require active thinking ... what can they discover about the physics, what connections do they
find, how do they explain what they see/discover, how does it make sense? An important consideration here is that the
activity should be geared towards encouraging the student to operate in “learning” mode (what can they learn or
understand from the sim) as opposed to “performance” mode (what does my instructor want me to write as the correct
answer?).
3. Build upon and connect to students’ prior knowledge and their current understanding of the physics. Students
come into class with a lot of experiences and ideas about how things work. One way to connect to these ideas is with an
elicit-confront-resolve activity structure where first you elicit students’ ideas and have them commit to these ideas.
Students then work with the sims and test this idea (confronting any misconceptions or building on their ideas). Finally,
they use the sim and guiding questions to resolve their understanding and make sense of what is going on.
4. Connect to and make sense of real-world experiences. Students will learn more and be more interested in learning if
they can see a reason why this knowledge or understanding is relevant and important in their everyday life. In many of the
sims, the physics concepts are explicitly presented in the context of everyday life and, in others, the presentation can be
related to everyday life experiences through activities.
5. Design collaborative activities (when possible). The sims create an environment where students are constructing their
understanding together; they have to communicate their ideas and reasoning to each other. The sim gives them a common
language with which to communicate.
6. Give only minimal directions on sim use. Avoid recipe-type directions that suppress active thinking. The sims
are designed and tested to be very usable for students. If you give students too many directions, then they will tend to
operate in "follow directions" mode as oppose to the more productive mode of "explore and make-sense" mode.
7. Require supporting reasoning/sense-making in words. The sims are designed to help students develop and test their
understanding and reasoning about things, and is thus most effective at helping students learn when they are asked to
explain their reasoning.
8. Help students monitor their understanding. Provide opportunities within the activities for students to check their
own understanding. One way to do this is to ask them to predict something based on their new knowledge and to check
the prediction with the simulation.
Helpful Check list: Does the activity …
Address all of your learning goals? Require active thinking? Require sense making / reasoning? Build on prior
knowledge? Connect to real world? Help students monitor their understanding?
Physics Education Technology Project Workshop
PTEC Annual Meeting 2006
3/26/2006
Evaluating Sim-coupled Activities - CCK
Sample Problem A: Not PhET aligned
Sample Problem B: PhET aligned
1. Start up the CCK simulation and create the following 1. If you were given a light bulb, some wires,
circuit.
a battery, and a switch
a. Show how you think these would need
to be connected to create a flashlight that you
can turn on and off?
2. Start up the CCK simulation and test the
circuit you drew in question 1. If this circuit does not
successfully light the bulb, build a circuit that functions
like a flashlight.
a. Draw your circuit here. Describe the important
features of a circuit that make a flashlight work.
b. Does this match your prediction from 1a? If your
a. What is the current through the bulb when the
original
idea in 1a didn’t work, explain why.
battery is 9 V and the resistor is 10 ohms?
c. Play around with your circuit. What changes
b. Decrease the bulbs resistance to 5 ohms. (Rightcould
you make to your flashlight design if you wanted
click on components to change their settings) What
a brighter flashlight (list as many approaches as you
happens?
c. Increase the voltage of the battery. What happens? can)? Explain your reasoning for why these changes
lead to a brighter flashlight. (Right-click on components
to change their settings, and use the voltmeter and
ammeter to measure voltage difference and current)
d. What changes could you make to your flashlight
design if you wanted the flashlight’s battery to last
longer (list as many approaches as you can)? Explain
your reasoning for why these changes lead to a longer
lasting battery?
------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------What do you think a student will learn from this
What do you think a student will learn from this
problem?
problem?
How is this problem the same as or different than a
traditional back-of-the-book problem? How would a
student’s approach to this problem be the same or
different?
How is this problem the same as or different than a
traditional back-of-the-book problem? How would a
student’s approach to this problem be the same or
different?
Physics Education Technology Project Workshop
PTEC Annual Meeting 2006
3/26/2006