Skip to main content

Online Simulations and Google Classroom

University of Colorado Boulder
Online simulations are a great way to support understanding of certain concepts through a form of experiential learning and developing conceptual understanding in math and science. Studies have shown that students often develop conceptual understanding and master concepts in less time through simulations.

There are many simulation websites and resources available but one of my favorites is PHET Simulations form the University of Colorado: https://phet.colorado.edu/. 

These simulations are designed for math and science in a variety of grade levels including elementary and middle school. The simulations can be accessed on both laptops and iPads (be sure to select HTML5 simulations - look for the 5 in lower right corner or select HTML5 from the menu).

Designing PHET Activities for the K-12 Classroom

K-5 teachers can share the link to a PHET Simulation to students using a QR Code or URL shortener, such as bitly.com or tinyurl.com. A couple of easy to use QR Code generators are goqr.me or qrstuff.com.

If you are using Google Classroom, PHET Simulations even has a Google Classroom button that allows you to add a simulation to an assignment.


Note: data on the use of a PHET Simulation is not collected. Students would need to comment, write a review of the simulation, or take a screenshot of their work.

PHET Simulations don't require an account or log-in to play, But I highly encourage teachers to create a free account that provides access to additional resources and support.

Enjoy!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Science Fair Projects

At the end of the year, many of our schools hold school wide science fairs. Students plan Science fair project tri-fold display board and implement projects and then present the process and resulting data on tri-fold display boards much like this. One class decided to go green and do away with using display boards. They conducted their experiments and recorded the data but rather than create paper reports they used their iPads. Project Data Graphs The students took pictures and video and created graphs and other visual representations and imported those into the Explain Everything app. During the science fair, students brought their iPads to the school's multipurpose room and presented their projects to attendees right from the iPads. In addition to using digital tools, these students are also developing their listening, speaking, and presentation skills - all vital to college and career readiness.
Post a Comment
Read more

Flipped Training 2013, Day Four

Day Four: Putting It All Together Day 4 was focused on two things: creating videos and lesson planning. Two very important topics for flipped learning! Video Creation: While we encourage our teachers to create their own flipped learning videos, we also know that there are some great pre-made video resources available. We explored sites such as Khan Academy , Math Train , and Sophia . To help teachers understand why we encourage them to create their own videos, we showed the Katie Gimbar video entitled " Why It Has to Be Me ". Katie has been flipping for some time and has a great series of videos and we used several throughout the training. You can access them here . Teacher created videos help students feel more like they are right there with the teacher and extends their in class relationship. While video creating can get pretty complicated, we encourage teachers to just do "one take" videos without retakes or a lot of editing. If you m...
Post a Comment
Read more

T. A. G. Strategy

We want our students to reflect on their own work but also to be able to give effective feedback to each other. This is true for writing, conversations, or digital work. It's tough for us as adults and even more difficult for our students - no matter the grade level. As we have started using Seesaw ( https://web.seesaw.me/ ) and its student Comment feature, I've seen lots of "I like ..." and "That's cool" comments. Not very meaningful. I recently came across this simple strategy called T.A.G: Tell, Ask, Give. An easy to remember acronym and a good way to get students started in making effective comments.  I've seen several variations but like these descriptors for the acronym: Tell - something you learned or was meaningful ("like" if they are specific about what they like) Ask - a question Give - a compliment or recommendation (depending upon the purpose for the comment) Download a pdf here . Here are some additional ...
Post a Comment
Read more