PhET Blog

University of Colorado Boulder Prof. Ed Kinney uses PhET’s Wave on a String to teach principles of sound in his popular physics course, Sound and Waves. In the course, students learn what happens to the waves as they move through the air from a speaker or musical instrument into the ear and vibrate the parts of the inner ear. Kinney says that PhET sims such as Wave on a String show changes and movement of sound through time better than a still image: “There’s not a still picture in a book that you can get across what is happening in real time when sound waves come into your ear.  Still pictures don’t convey the understanding.”

Read more here: https://sparc.colorado.edu/kinneys-simulations-support-learning-complex-physics-concepts/

Have an inspirational PhET story? Has PhET changed how you teach? How your students learn? Inspired a student’s interest in STEM?

We are looking for a few personal stories to share with people around the world to capture how PhET simulations impact you or your students. Help us by filling out this short questionnaire. If your story is selected, we’ll contact you for more information, and feature you in our newsletters and blogs.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Share your story here: https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aarTABodHFOjXEh

Thanks to all who voted!

PhET received all 3 awards in the NSF 2015 Teaching and Learning Video Showcase: Presenters’ choice, Facilitators’ choice, and Public choice.

We couldn’t have won without you!

We are excited to now have individual HTML5 sim pages where you can easily access sample learning goals (under About), Teacher Tips and Activities (under For Teachers), Related Simulations, and Software Requirements. With the new pulldown menus, everything about the simulation is on a single screen. There’s also a link to conveniently access the corresponding original JAVA/Flash sims and their translations.

And don’t forget to help bring more improvements and HTML5 sims by donating at:

DONATE NOW

All donations are tax deductible.
Thanks for your support!

We’re presenting PhET’s work May 11-15 in the NSF 2015 Teaching and Learning Video Showcase. View our video and browse the more than 100 other great videos about STEM teaching and learning. You can even join the conversation by posing questions to presenters. Vote for your favorites with the “Public Choice”. Winners will be announced on Monday May 18th.

The PhET team would like offer our sincerest gratitude to all the dedicated educators of the world. Thanks for inspiring your students to reach their peak! #ThankATeacher

Congratulations to Conifer Chemistry Teacher and PhET K12 Specialist, Trish Loeblein, on her retirement from teaching!

Trish has been a dedicated teacher for over 30 years, and a member of the PhET team for the last 10, helping design over 50 simulations and contributing over 130 guided-inquiry-based activities along with many teacher resources! Her activities are the most popular in our database with more than 900,000 downloads in the past year. In addition, she has run numerous teacher workshops and webinars, both locally and nationally. Over her many years of teaching, Trish has touched thousands of students focusing on their learning, specifically understanding and learning to think, NOT just memorization.

Thanks Trish for inspiring a generation of students! And while the students will certainly miss you in the classroom, we are excited that you will continue to work part-time with PhET! #ThankaTeacher

In honor of #ThankaTeacher week, PhET would like to thank Prof. Martin Veillette. Martin comes to us from Berea College where he is an associate professor of physics, teaching courses across the physics curriculum, from astronomy to quantum mechanics. He has been an avid user of PhET simulations as an instructor and this year he has been with us working as a software developer, learning the tools of the trade during his sabbatical leave. During his time at PhET, he partnered with Amanda McGarry to create the brand new #HTML5 sim Least Squares Regression. He also worked on the upcoming #HTML5 Charges and Fields and Pinko Probability.  When he’s not teaching physics, you can see him in “creeking” in the streams of Kentucky. Thanks Martin!

Interested in working for PhET? Know someone who is? Forward this to math educators and education researchers in your community! And of course, apply if you’re interested! Dr. Karina Hensberry (khensberry@mail.usf.edu) and Amanda McGuarry (amanda.mcgarry@colorado.edu) will be at NCTM Booth #647 and Rm. 153 C (BCEC) Friday, April 17 11:00 AM-12:00 PM.

Two math education positions—both focusing on teaching and learning pre-algebra and algebra with simulations (grades 6-9)—are open as described below. Application review will be ongoing (disregard any dates in the postings) and continue until filled. Please contact Kathy Perkins at Kathy.Perkins@colorado.edu when you apply.

Post-doctoral research position: https://www.jobsatcu.com/postings/75448
K12 Simulation Designer/Specialist: https://www.jobsatcu.com/postings/96105

PhET (http://phet.colorado.edu) will be unavailable from Friday, March 20 at 10:00 PM Mountain Daylight Time until Saturday, March 21 at 8:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time due to necessary maintenance performed by the University of Colorado Office of Information Technology.

We apologize in advance for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.