Screenshot of the PhET simulation: Balloons and Static Electricity Exploratory: Balloons and Static Electricityįigure 1. In the next article, we will share our progress in developing accessibility features for these specific sims capable of supporting students with and without disabilities in collaborative learning experiences. We will then describe a variety of ways teachers incorporate PhET sims into their courses. We will use these sims as examples to demonstrate design features incorporated into all PhET sims, including features that provide opportunities for exploration, create a game-like environment, and scaffold learning. In this article, we will introduce three PhET sims: Balloons and Static Electricity, John Travoltage, and Energy Skate Park: Basics. By providing a safe and effective environment to explore and experiment, students can learn foundational science and mathematics concepts with the sims (Moore, Chamberlain, Parson, & Perkins, 2014 Moore, Herzog, & Perkins, 2013 Podolefsky, Perkins, & Adams, 2010). PhET sims are designed to be highly interactive and to support students to actively engage in learning. Teaching approaches that actively engage students with science and mathematics topics are known to be effective at improving student learning (Weiss, Pasley, & Smith, 2003) and improving student perceptions of science and mathematics (Kanter & Konstantopoulos, 2010 Swarat, Ortony, & Revelle, 2012). In the second article, we will share how PhET is working to increase the accessibility of PhET sims worldwide, including the unique challenges and opportunities presented by highly interactive digital learning tools. In this article, we introduce PhET sims, describe features found in all PhET sims that support student engagement, and provide examples of how the sims can be used by teachers. The PhET project impacts classrooms around the world with over 100 million sim runs per year, with sims available in 86 languages. This suite consists of over 150 interactive sims on topics in physics, chemistry, mathematics, earth science, and biology for students from elementary school to college. The simulations are all available for free.The PhET Interactive Simulations project () at the University of Colorado Boulder develops a popular suite of free simulations (sims) for teaching and learning science and mathematics. I recommend the entire site to any science- or math-oriented kids and adults. The PhET simulations are extremely well done, and it’s a great chance for your kids to get to design their own skate park and play with its physics. My kids are 12 and 9, but I’ve successfully introduced them to concepts that I didn’t learn about until high school or college laying the groundwork for later study is a big part of my educational philosophy. It’s never too early to introduce kids to complex topics. Kids are able to get silly, and try things that they wouldn’t be able to try in real life. They can pilot a lunar lander, or watch a glacier move. They can shoot a piano from a cannon, or make their own atom from scratch. They get to play with each of the variables in a system, and see how changing one affects the others. The PhET simulations are fantastic for helping kids learn about how science works. Image: PhET, The University of Colorado, Boulder We will study physics this year, and address motion, force, springs, waves, light, sound, magnetism, and electromagnetism. We studied chemistry last year, and the kids got to play with atoms, acids and bases, density, and the pH scale. I learned about PhET a few years ago, and have been using it with my kids as part of our homeschool studies. The simulations run from the very basic for elementary school students, all the way up to university-level material. It’s full of interactive simulations for all branches of science, and for math. My alma mater, the University of Colorado, Boulder, has put together a fantastic website called PhET.
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