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Physics Education Technology - University of Colorado, Boulder
PhET Blog

Archive for April, 2013

PhET Team Member, Trish Loeblein, Receives American Chemistry Society 2013 ACS Colorado High School Teaching Award!

Trishphoto

We’re excited to announce our very own Trish Loeblein, PhET K-12 Specialist, was honored to receive the ACS 2013 Colorado High School Teaching Award.

Trish has taught all levels of science including chemistry, physics and math, including many AP courses. Trish was recognized because she “brings an enormous energy to the classroom” and “goes out of her way to teach difficult concepts in a more tangible manner, a skill which is necessary for challenging chemistry and physics courses.”

Congratulations Trish!

Tuesday

Apr 30

2013

New Simulation: Energy Forms and Changes


Energy Forms and Changes

We’re excited to add our last Java-based simulation, Energy Forms and Changes. Explore how heating and cooling iron, brick, and water adds or removes energy. See how energy is transferred between objects. Build your own system, with energy sources, changers, and users. Track and visualize how energy flows and changes through your system.

Wednesday

Apr 24

2013

Scheduled Downtime: Friday, April 19, 2013 at 5:30 PM Mountain Daylight Time

We will be upgrading the PhET server on Friday, April 19 at 5:30 PM Mountain Daylight Time. During this time, PhET (http://phet.colorado.edu) will experience periods of unavailability. We expect that the outage will last only 30 minutes and that we will be back online very quickly. However, if you experience issues, please e-mail the PhET Help Desk at phethelp@colorado.edu.

Thanks for your patience during our system upgrade.

Thursday

Apr 18

2013

PhET’s Progress on iPad Compatibility

We’ve been busy working on making our simulations iPad compatible. We hope to have a number of them ready over the summer so they will be available for the 2013-2014 school year, including Build an Atom, Concentration, and Ohm’s Law.

Right now user donations are our key source of funding towards converting simulations to HTML5 and bringing them to iPad and Android tablets.

So please consider donating today. And, thank you to those of you who have already donated. Your support will help keep our work funded through the summer.

Donate Now to help support iPad compatibility!

Friday

Apr 12

2013

Teaching Modern Physics? Try PhET’s Photoelectric Effect

Photoelectric Effect

In the middle of modern physics? Try our “Intro to Photoelectric Effect Interactive Lecture.” These lecture notes include many concept questions and an interactive lecture demo, for a 2-3 day introduction to the Photoelectric Effect.

Monday

Apr 8

2013

Open Education Resources Are “Here to Stay”

In a new report by the Software & Information Industry Association, “Guide to the Use of Open Educational Resources in K-12 and Postsecondary Education,” open educational resources, like PhET are “here to stay.” This white paper from the SIIA’s Education Division’s working group was written to provide an increased understanding of OER’s impact and usage in schools.

Tuesday

Apr 2

2013