PhET interactive simulations

WHAT IS PhET?

PhET is a suite of research-based interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, chemistry, math, and other sciences. PhET simulations can be run online or downloaded for free from the PhET website. The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments where students learn through exploration. They emphasize the connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science, and help make the visual and conceptual models of expert scientists accessible to students. PhET simulations are primarily developed for and tested with university and high school students, but have been found to be educational and fun for students "from grade school to grad school."

PhET PRINCIPLES AND FEATURES

Each of the PhET simulations is the result of comprehensive research, resulting in a collection of works that follow the same principles of design consistent with current theories of online learning. These principles that lead to effective simulations are summarized by Adams et al. (2008) as follows:

Animation and Interactivity	·         student attention is drawn to animations, therefore students should be given as much control over the significant parameters as possible while being careful over which parameters are limited
Exploration	·         when students meet aspects of the simulation that they do not comprehend, they will explore them until they arrive at a working definition of the particular feature. They will then use legends and labels to connect their own definition to the science vocabulary. Simulations with multiple representations of the same item enable students to create further connections.
Fun	·         if simulations are fun students are more likely to play with them. Simulations that appear dull or daunting prevent students from freely interacting with them.
Performance mode	·         students who feel that they do not understand the material are more likely to freely investigate a simulation than those who believe that they already understand the subject matter.
Engagement	·         engaged students work actively to understand the material. Students are more likely to be engaged by simulations about unknown scientific phenomena.
Credibility	·         in order to achieve engaged exploration, the students must find the simulation believable and realistic.
Coherence Principle	·         the inclusion of ancillary information, though interesting, can ultimately detract from overall student learning
Consistency	·         the ability to analyze and utilize the simulations is greatly affected by the students’ familiarity with similar computer programs.

BENEFITS OF PhET IN TEACHING

BENEFITS OF PhET IN LEARNING

PhET is unique in the way they can blur the boundaries between lecture, homework, in-class activities, and laboratory, because one sim can be used in similar ways in all of these. They also can provide a common visualization between students and teacher that can facilitate all communication and instruction.

1) Lecture

It can be used as simple animated illustrations, in concept tests or in the form of interactive classroom demonstrations. As an animated illustration, the simulation shows the process and can be slowed or sped up depending on the concept being shown. The invisible (photons, electrons, fields, etc.) can be made visible; and multiple representations (i.e. motion of the skater and different graphs) can be clearly linked.

2) Laboratory Activities

Aside from offering many of the same benefits as doing demonstrations using real equipment, the simulations also have several additional advantages: 1) they can be used in classrooms where the real equipment is either not available or impractical to set up; 2) they can be used to do “experiments” that are impossible to do otherwise (e.g. simulation shows immediate response to adjusting the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere or the resistance of a bulb in a circuit); 3) it is easy to change variables in response to student questions that would be difficult or impossible to change with real apparatus; 4) they can show the invisible and explicitly connect multiple representations; and finally, 5) the students can run the simulation on their own computer at home to repeat or extend the experiments from class to clarify and strengthen their understanding.

3) Homework Activities 

Frequently, we assign simulation-based homework after using the simulations in lecture or with an in-class activity. However, simulation-based homework questions can also provide introductory exploration of a topic before students have seen it in class.The simulations are unique because their design allows homework assignments to successfully use a guided inquiry approach without the presence of a teacher. This built-in support also allows teachers to include homework questions that ask the students to extend their learning beyond what is possible in a standard homework problem by having them explain phenomena related to, but different from, what they have seen in class or in the textbook (e.g. exploring ideas about gases and pressure, and extending them to the contexts of suction cups, high altitude breathlessness, and balloons).