PhET: Interactive Simulations for Teaching and Learning Physics

Katherine Perkins, Wendy Adams, Michael Dubson, Noah Finkelstein, Sam Reid, Carl Wieman, and Ron
LeMaster

Citation: The Physics Teacher 44, 18 (2006); doi: 10.1119/1.2150754

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2150754
View Table of Contents: http://aapt.scitation.org/toc/pte/44/1
Published by the American Association of Physics Teachers

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PhET: Interactive
Simulations for Teaching
and Learning Physics
Katherine Perkins, Wendy Adams, Michael Dubson, Noah Finkelstein,
Sam Reid, and Carl Wieman, University of Colorado at Boulder
Ron LeMaster, Kavli Operating Institute

T
he Physics Education Technology (PhET) activities, demo ideas, etc.) with one another.
project creates useful simulations for teach-
ing and learning physics and makes them Creating PhET Sims for Engagement
freely available from the PhET website (http://phet. and Learning
colorado.edu). The simulations (sims) are animated, We have two main goals for the PhET sims: in-
interactive, and game-like environments in which creased student engagement and improved learning.
students learn through exploration. In these sims, we Sims are specifically designed to support students in
emphasize the connections between real-life phenom- constructing a robust conceptual understanding of
ena and the underlying science, and seek to make the the physics through exploration. While we draw from
visual and conceptual models of expert physicists ac- research literature1 on how students learn, conceptual
cessible to students. We use a research-based approach difficulties in physics, and educational technology de-
in our design—incorporating findings from prior sign, we also make extensive use of student interviews
research and our own testing to create sims that sup- and classroom testing to explore usability, interpreta-
port student engagement with and understanding of tion, and learning issues, and to develop general sim
physics concepts. design principles.
We currently have about 50 sims posted on our We design the sims to present an appealing environ-
website. Many of the sims cover introductory high ment that literally invites the student to interact and
school and college physics, while others introduce explore in an open-style play area. All controls are sim-
more advanced topics, e.g., lasers, semiconductors, ple and intuitive, e.g., click-and-drag manipulation,
greenhouse effect, radioactivity, nuclear weapons, and sliders, and radio buttons. In the Gas Properties sim
Fourier analysis. Users, however, have included stu- (Fig. 1), for example, the opening panel greets the user
dents from grade school through graduate school. On with a wiggling invitation to “Pump the handle!” We
the website, the sims are organized under nine loose emphasize connections to everyday life, both to engage
categories: Motion; Work, Energy & Power; Sound the students and to support their learning. This ap-
& Waves; Heat & Thermo; Electricity & Circuits; proach influences both the small details (e.g., using a
Light & Radiation; Quantum Phenomena; Chem- bicycle pump to add gases) and the larger design where
istry; Math Tools; and Cutting Edge Research. We the science is often presented in the context of real-life
update the website regularly with newly developed or phenomena (e.g., learning about buoyancy with hot
improved sims. We have also recently translated the air and helium balloons in the companion Balloons
sims into Spanish and have added a new searchable and Buoyancy sim [not shown]).
database that allows the community of educators us- The PhET sims use dynamic graphics to explicitly
ing PhET sims to share teaching materials (homework animate the visual and conceptual models used by

18 DOI: 10.1119/1.2150754 THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006

expert physicists. In many cases, the sims show what’s
not ordinarily visible to the eye, such as atoms, elec-
trons, photons, and electric fields. All of the PhET
sims directly couple the student’s actions with the
animation. Adjustment of any controls results in an
immediate animated response in the visual repre-
sentations, making these sims particularly useful for
establishing cause-and-effect relationships and for
enhancing students’ abilities to connect multiple rep-
resentations. For more quantitative explorations, the
sims provide various measurement instruments, e.g.,
ruler, stop watch, voltmeter, thermometer, pressure
gauge. The Gas Properties sim illustrates many of these
design features. Fig. 1. In the Gas Properties sim, pump the handle to add
heavy or light particles to the box and see them move
Making PhET Sims Accessible about, colliding with each other and the walls. Cool the
box with “ice” and see the particles’ motion slow as the
We write the sims in either Java or Flash so that thermometer and pressure gauge readings fall. Increase
they can be run directly from the website using a stan- gravity and see a pressure gradient form.
dard web browser. In addition, users can download
and install the entire website (currently about words, and gestures in an attempt to help them share
60 MB) onto any local machine for use offline. This is the same visual models that have worked for us. Un-
particularly convenient when student computer labs fortunately, this is not always successful—a student’s
or lecture halls do not have an Internet connection. picture may not be the same or necessarily useful.
These sims run best on PCs. Macs will run the Flash When using the sims, the students and the teacher see
sims well, but the Java sims run less reliably on older the same objects and motions, allowing the teacher
versions of Mac OSX. and students to focus their time and attention on cre-
ating an understanding of the physics rather than on
Teaching and Learning with PhET establishing a common picture.
Sims In teaching about the physics of violins, for exam-
Each PhET sim is created as a stand-alone learning ple, we wanted students to have a good visualization
tool, giving teachers the freedom to pick and choose of a standing wave on a string. In 2002, we used the
which sims to use and how to use them. The sims are conventional demonstration of shaking a long tygon
most effective when students’ exploration is somewhat tube stretched across our lecture hall to create a stand-
guided, either by the instructor in lecture or by home- ing wave. In 2003, we demonstrated the motion of a
work, lab, or recitation activities using a guided-in- standing wave with our Wave-on-a-String sim, shown
quiry approach to learning. Here, we introduce some in Fig. 2A. We followed each demo with the concept
of the PhET sims and provide some suggestions for test in Fig. 2B. As shown, the sim was much more
how to effectively use our sims in different learning effective at helping the students visualize the string’s
environments. motion.
We regularly use the sims to show students what is
Lecture. These sims are versatile tools for teaching not visible to the eye. When teaching about electro-
in lecture: serving as powerful visual aids, comple- statics, for instance, we follow the traditional balloon
menting traditional classroom demos, and providing demos with the Sweater-Balloon sim (not shown)
opportunities for interactive engagement through where the students see electric charges move in re-
sim-based interactive lecture demos2 or concept tests. sponse to rubbing a balloon on a sweater. Bringing a
Every physics teacher knows that it is often difficult charged balloon near a wall shows polarization of the
for students to visualize the physics. We use pictures, wall through the motion of negative charges.

THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006 19

 Fig. 3. This concept test uses a screen shot from the
Fig. 2. In the Wave-on-a-String sim, you can wiggle the sim Radio Waves to help students distinguish between
end of the string with the mouse or a piston to create a wave speed and frequency. In Radio Waves, users create
wave and explore the effects of tension and damping. EM waves by moving the electron in the broadcasting
Here we use the sim (A) to help students visualize a antenna by hand (mouse) or by setting the frequency
standing wave then follow with a concept test (B). Only and amplitude of oscillation.
27% of the students shown the traditional tygon tube
demo answered correctly, compared with 71% of the
students shown the sim.

These sims couple naturally with the use of many dents’ predictions are tested as the instructor repro-
interactive engagement techniques. In our classrooms, duces the described motion of the man on the side-
we use an adaptation of Mazur’s Peer Instruction3 tech- walk and the graphs plot simultaneously. This motion
nique with both concept tests and interactive lecture can be repeated with the sim’s “playback” feature. Ve-
demos. In teaching about electromagnetic waves, we locity and acceleration vectors can be displayed, and
use the Radio Waves sim to help the students develop the position scale on the sidewalk can be flipped with
an understanding of how EM waves are created by ac- “invert x-axis” to guide students’ thinking about the
celerating charges, how they exert forces on charges, meaning of the signs of velocity and acceleration.
and how their frequency, wavelength, and wave speed We have noticed that using sims in lecture often
are related. As shown in Fig. 3, we ask the students to leads to unprompted high-quality questions and com-
discuss and vote on how the speed of the wave is mea- ments from students, e.g., connecting to their own
sured. About 1/3 of our students had not yet clearly experiences, asking probing “what if ” questions, or
distinguished the ideas of frequency and speed. By us- extending the discussion to applications or conse-
ing the sim, we were able to immediately address this quences of the physics. Because of the open design of
confusion; we focused the students’ attention on fol- the sims, we are often able to immediately use them
lowing the peak as it moved to the right and relating in an ad hoc manner to test students’ ideas or answer
that motion to the speed of the wave. their questions.
The sims are also useful tools for interactive lecture
demos (ILDs). For instance, the Moving Man sim Lab/Recitation. The PhET sims are designed to
(Fig. 4) is ideal for use with Thornton and Sokoloff ’s allow students to construct their own conceptual
force and motion ILD where students predict the understanding of physics through exploration. This
graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration for a makes the sims useful learning tools for small group
described motion.2 Using the Moving Man sim, stu- activities in lab or recitation. We have found that

20 THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006

 Fig. 5. The Masses and Springs sim creates an open lab-
Fig. 4. In Moving Man, users control the man’s motion
like environment in which students are free to investi-
either by dragging the man about or using the posi-
gate. Challenge them to measure the mass of the green
tion, velocity, or acceleration controls. By graphing the
weight, to measure gravity on Planet X, or to make
motion simultaneously and including a “playback” fea-
sense of the energy conversions.
ture, this sim helps students build connections between
actual motions and their graphical representation.

such activities need to have well-defined learning

goals and be designed to guide, but not excessively
constrain, the students’ exploration of the sim, pro-
moting lines of inquiry that help students develop
their understanding of the concepts.
A number of the PhET sims are particularly well-
suited for such use, including Moving Man, Circuit
Construction Kit, Masses and Springs, and Gas Proper-
ties. In Masses and Springs (Fig. 5), students can com-
plete traditional laboratory activities, such as hanging
objects on springs and measuring spring displacement
or oscillation period. In addition, students can extend
their explorations by slowing down time and follow-
ing the conversion between different forms of energy,
by transferring the apparatus to a different planet or
Fig. 6. In the CCK sim, students can construct these cir-
by varying the spring constant. The lifelike look of cuits, close the switch, and immediately see the response
the sims mimics the students’ real-world experience in – the electrons flow faster from the battery, the amme-
many ways. Through guided activities that investigate ter reads higher, the voltage meter reads lower, and one
the physics of spring scales or bungee jumpers, for bulb dims while the other bulb glows brighter. Results
from a recent study (inset) show improved performance
example, students can develop a conceptual under- on the final by students using CCK in lab.
standing of a range of topics including Hooke’s law,
damped and undamped harmonic oscillators, and The CCK sim also provides an animation of the elec-
conservation of energy. trons flowing through the circuit elements and the
The Circuit Construction Kit (CCK) sim (Fig. 6) ability to continuously adjust the resistance of any
offers a learning environment similar to a real-life component (including the light bulbs) or the voltage
lab. Students connect light bulbs, switches, batteries, of the battery. For example, after building the circuit
resistors, and wires to create arbitrarily complex dc in Fig. 6, students can close the switch and change
circuits. Realistic-looking voltmeters and ammeters the resistance of the 10-Ω resistor. Simultaneously the
are used to measure voltage differences and currents. students observe the effect on the motion of electrons,

THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006 21

 the students to explore cause-and-effect relation-
ships, both qualitatively and quantitatively, or make
connections to their everyday life experiences. In
homework on sound, for example, we ask students
to make sense of what the Sound sim (Fig. 7A) is
showing with true/false (Fig. 7B) and essay ques-
tions: “You hear a Concert A tone from the speaker.
Describe the required motion of the speaker and
how this motion leads to detection of Concert A
by your ear. Include in your explanation the chain
of cause-and-effect logic.” In a discovery exercise,
students are asked to use the ruler and timer in the
“Measure” panel to develop a procedure for measur-
ing the speed of sound, and then measure its speed
at 200 Hz and at 400 Hz. We ask them: “Does the
speed depend on the frequency? How are your obser-
vations consistent or inconsistent with your experi-
Fig. 7. In the Sound sim (Panel A), a speaker oscillates
back and forth producing pressure waves that propa- ence in everyday life? Explain.”
gate from the speaker. Students can: adjust frequency
and amplitude; see changes in the pressure waves and Hearing from the Students
hear changes in pitch and volume; use a ruler and timer At the end of the term, we asked the students in
to measure speed, frequency, period, and wavelength;
and look at and listen to the interference of waves from
one of our large lecture courses how useful the sims
two speakers. In Panel B, true/false questions guide stu- were for their learning, responding on a 5-point scale
dents‘ exploration. from “not useful” to “a great deal.” For the usefulness
of sims in lecture, 62% of the students rated the sims
the brightness of the bulbs, and the measured volt- as very useful for their learning (4-5), with an addi-
age difference. These features provide students with tional 22% finding them somewhat useful (3). The
powerful tools for understanding current and investi- usefulness of homework questions coupled with sims
gating cause-and-effect relationships between voltage, was rated as very useful by 49%, while 24% found
current, resistance, and power. In a recent study, we them somewhat useful. In contrast, the textbook was
found that the students who used CCK in lab per- rated of little use (1-2) by 52% and very useful by
formed better on conceptual questions about circuits only 27%.
and in constructing real circuits than the students who In a calculus-based physics course running the
used real equipment (Fig. 6 inlay).4 Tutorials-in-Physics,5 we used the CCK sim for the cir-
While it is useful for students to make sense of cuits tutorial. In a follow-up survey, we asked students
non-idealized, real-world situations, these sims use a to comment on which of the tutorials (out of the nine
layered structure to allow students to first explore and they had completed) had been particularly effective.
construct a conceptual understanding with idealized Of those who listed specific tutorial(s), about 70%
equipment, and then move from the ideal to the com- identified the circuits tutorials in which they used
plexities encountered in real life. In CCK, for example, CCK, with many commenting on how helpful it was
the “advanced features” add finite resistivity to the to be able to easily experiment and adjust the circuits
wires and an internal resistance to the batteries. and how the sim helped with visualizing electricity:

Homework. When the sims are coupled with home- Student 1: “I really like the circuits tutorial where i
work using a guided-inquiry approach, students [sic] got to build circuits on the computer and change
variables to see an instantaneous reaction. This really
interact with the sim to discover, explain, or reason helped me conceptualize circuits, resistors, etc...”
about the important physics concepts. Often we ask

22 THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006

 Student 2: “I liked the Voltage, Current and
Resistance tutorial with the computers. I am a visual
learner, and I am struggling with electricity because it
is not something you can really see. I mean you can see
a light bulb go on, but you cannot see what is going
on inside. The tutorial with the computers helped me
out, because they showed what was really going on
inside the circuit.” (data courtesy of Steve Pollock
and Chris Keller)

We invite you to visit the PhET website (http://

phet.colorado.edu) and explore all the simulations, as
well as the database of activities and additional results
from our research. We thank NSF and the Kavli Op-
erating Institute for supporting this project. We also
thank our PhET coworkers and the PER Group at
Colorado for their valuable contributions.

References
1. For example, How People Learn, edited by J.D. Brans-
ford, A. L. Brown, and R.R. Cocking (Natl. Academic
Press, Washington, D.C., 2002); references within
L.C. McDermott and E.F. Redish, “Resource letter on
physics education research,” Am. J. Phys. 67, 755–772
(1999); R.C. Clark and R.E. Mayer, e-Learning and the
Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consum-
ers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (Pfeiffer, San
Francisco, 2003).
2. D. Sokoloff and R. Thornton, “Using interactive lec-
ture demonstrations to create an active learning envi-
ronment,” Phys. Teach. 35, 340–346 (1997).
3. E. Mazur, Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual (Prentice
Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997).
4. N.D. Finkelstein et al.,“When learning about the real
world is better done virtually: A study of substituting
computer simulations for laboratory equipment,” Phys.
Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 1, 010103 (2005).
5. L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Educa-
tion Group at the University of Washington, Tutorials
in Introductory Physics (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle
River, NJ, 2002).
PACS codes: 01.40.gb, 01.40.Rr, 01.50.ga

The authors: Carl Wieman, Distinguished Professor of

Physics and a Fellow of JILA, leads the PhET project housed
in the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado at
Boulder. The other authors are part of the PhET team: Kath-
erine Perkins (assistant professor attendant rank), Wendy
Adams (graduate student), Michael Dubson (senior instruc-
tor and flash programmer), Noah Finkelstein (assistant pro-
fessor), Sam Reid (software engineer), and Ron LeMaster
(software engineer supported by the Kavli Operating Insti-
tute).
Contact: Katherine Perkins, Department of Physics,
UCB 390, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder,
CO 80309; [email protected]

THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 44, January 2006 23