Interactive Simulations and Animations for Physics

Student Performance Objectives:

• The teacher candidate will select one interactive simulation for physics and become familiar with its use.
• The teacher candidate will develop a simulation-based worksheet for student use.
• The teacher candidate will present the worksheet to the class.
• The teacher candidate will distinguish between interactive simulations (essentially computer-based, lab-oriented activities) and animations (essentially computer-based demonstrations).

Physlets - Physics Applets - are typically interactive Java simulations designed for physics education. You do not need to be a Java expert in order to use physlets; physlets tend to be user friendly. Nonetheless, it often takes a bit of practice to become familiar with and learn the educational uses of a Physlets. The links below generally contain tutorials, instructions, and sample problems to help you use physlets in your teaching. Working in pairs, rough out a worksheet activity for students to use after you have become familiar with a particular simulation. Don't waste time looking through many simulations. Pick one quickly and just "go" with it.

Simulations:

• Physics Education Technology (PhET)
• Physlets (Davidson College)
• Interactive Physlets (Grenfell College)
• MyPhysicsLabs (Simulations by Erik Neumann)
• Physics Java Applets by C. K. Ng
• ActivPhysics Online by Addison Wesley

Animations:

• First & Second Semester Demonstrations
• Applets and Shockwave Animations for use in Physics
• Flash Animations for Physics
• Computer Animations of Physical Processes

The following resources are really tutorials that have interactive elements; they are great for review and can be used to enrich student understanding:

• Hippocampus
• Physics Classroom

Note that a search of the internet using Google or similar search engines will reveal many other resources.

Sample Interactive Simulation Worksheet: Virtual Density Laboratory Gizmo (by Rebecca Wenning-Vieyra, Cary-Grove High School).

Interactive Physics Simulation Project Guidelines and Rubric

(last updated 3/01/2011, cjw)