PhET Blog

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!

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.

Ever wonder how a new simulation is created? In this new video PhET: Research and Development, you can see what’s behind the development of a PhET simulation and how we use research to enhance learning. Learn how we choose what topic to address, all the way through to how we test our simulations.

PhET is one of many providers of “Open Educational Resources” (OER) and is a big supporter of the larger open education movement. This week brings many opportunities to learn more about OER projects and the opportunity for OER to impact teaching and learning worldwide. See their list of events here:

http://www.openeducationweek.org/events-webinars/

We’re excited to announce that PhET is now a 100Kin10 Partner. 100Kin10 is a multi-sector partnership addressing the national imperative to train 100,000 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers by 2021. See the press release here.

In our new video, Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman explains how and why he started PhET.

If you’re running Java 7, we strongly encourage you update to Java Update 13 (build 1.7.0_13-b20). This latest Java release includes critical security patches and makes running Java in the browser more safe.

Get the upgrade here:

http://www.java.com

And if you’d like to learn more about the update, read about it here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57567412-83/oracle-pushes-out-new-java-update-to-patch-security-holes/

Note to Mac Users: to run our 3D simulations, Molecule Shapes or Plate Tectonics, you will still have to downgrade to Java 6 as described in our previous blog.

See Tim Holt on El Paso Independent School District’s (EPISD) Digital Discoveries show how they use PhET.

PhET, December 9, 2011: “In this segment, we look at some amazing online simulations for science and math classes: PhET simulations. These are great for use on IWBs as well as for reinforcing concepts. We sample a few random PhET simulations, including John Travoltage!

Thanks Tom for the Shout Out!

Have you seen our latest video Using PhET in Lecture: Going Beyond Demos?

See how to use PhET simulations in powerful ways that engage a whole class in a large lecture setting. See examples of how you can incorporate clickers and other instructional techniques to deliver engaging interactive lecture demonstrations that will make maximum impact on student learning.