Participate and share: Poster 
Many teachers and students can benefit from the use of simulations to enhance existing hands-on activities, or to substitute physical materials when they are unavailable. Further, simulations can significantly enhance students' conceptualization of fundamental math and science concepts that are abstract, and allow learners to explore mathematical and natural scenarios through student-centered inquiry.
The purpose of this session will be to increase attendees’ familiarity with PhET’s professional development offerings, including the PhET Virtual Workshop on the web (https://phet.colorado.edu/en/teaching-resources/virtual-workshop/) and through Coursera, sim-based supports such as tutorials and Teacher Tips, and teacher-contributed activities. Participants who engage in this session will learn (1) how to access PhET’s full range of teacher resources, (2) how to structure and facilitate effective STEM teacher professional development programs for various contexts (online, in-person, blended), and (3) how interactive simulations can be an on-ramp to support teachers to use more evidence-based pedagogies.
This poster presentation will begin with an overview of PhET and how to access the simulations online, including a summary of the design process and evidence base for effectiveness and recommendations for finding and exploring relevant simulations. Second, the poster presentation will highlight how to access the PhET Virtual Workshop and broadly explore the four courses that comprise it, including Introductory material, Whole-Class Strategies for teaching all students at once with a single projector, Activity Design for small group or independent activities, and Implementation Strategies for carrying out PhET sim-based lessons. A deep dive into the Activity Design course will include reviewing guidelines for effective worksheet creation to guide student use of a simulation, and using a rubric to evaluate its content and format. Finally, the presentation include examples of how educators around the world have made use of these resources for teacher professional development, including working through the materials in a self-paced format, as part of a Massive Open Online Course, presented in virtual, blended, or in-person workshops, and integrated into formal teacher education programs. Leave with PD resources you may leverage to support teachers in your context.
Since 2002, PhET has developed interactive sims through research, co-design, and user testing, advancing educational technology design and what is known about how learners make sense of STEM concepts. PhET simulations are a leading STEM resource and have broad adoption by STEM teachers (~125 million uses annually in the US, ~250 million uses globally). PhET has been supported by seven research grants from the National Science Foundation.
There is substantial and growing evidence that teachers’ adoption of PhET simulations does much more than fill a gap for physical equipment. When compared with traditional hands-on laboratory experiences, the use of PhET simulations often results in significantly greater conceptual understanding, as evidenced by both researchers from the PhET team (Finkelstein et al., 2005; Perkins et al., 2006) and external researchers (see Banda & Nzabahimana (2021) for a review of 31 studies from more than a dozen countries worldwide). Because of the open-ended nature of simulations, in which students can ask their own questions and engage in exploration, classroom norms often shift from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered learning (Atabas et al., 2020; Moore et al., 2013 & 2014), shifts which are in line with effective pedagogical practices for active learning that educational research has shown to have a positive impact on student learning (Moore, et. al, 2014).
In addition to the simulations themselves, PhET has designed a 45-hour, blended synchronous and asynchronous Virtual Workshop to help teachers identify relevant simulations and use them in the classroom, and has used the workshop content in its digital form with nearly 4,000 teachers. The Virtual Workshop includes assignments that provide teachers with opportunities to use simulations with discipline-specific pedagogical approaches that aim to increase student equity through engagement, including Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (Sharma et al., 2010; Sokoloff & Thornton, 2006), Concept Questions and Peer Instruction (Mazur, 1997; Tullis & Goldstone, 2020), and the creation and facilitation of effective small-group activities. Many PhET simulations additionally have inclusive features to support students who have learning differences and physical disabilities (Moore, 2015).
References
Atabas, S., Schellinger, J., Whitacre, I., Findley, K., & Hensberry, K. (2020). A tale of two sets of norms: Comparing opportunities for student agency in mathematics lessons with and without interactive simulations. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 58, 100761.
Banda, H. J. & Nzabahimana, J. (2021). Effect of integrating physics education technology simulations on students’ conceptual understanding in physics: A review of the literature. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 17, 023108.
Finkelstein, N. D., Adams, W. K., Keller, C. J., Kohl, P. B., Perkins, K. K., Podolefsky, N. S., Reid, S., & LeMaster, R. (2005). When learning about the real world is better done virtually: A study of substituting computer simulations for laboratory equipment. Physical Review Special Topics Physics Education Research, 1, 010103.
Mazur, E. (1997). Peer instruction: A user’s manual. Prentice Hall.
Moore, E. B. (2015). Designing accessible interactive chemistry simulations. ConfChem: Interactive Visualizations for Chemistry Teaching and Learning.
Moore, E. B., Carpenter, Y.-Y., Parson, R., & Perkins, K. (2014). From Demonstrations & Clicker Questions to Guided-Inquiry Activities: Resources for Integrating PhET Simulations into Introductory Chemistry Courses General Resources for Teaching with PhET Simulations Resources for Teaching with Specific PhET Chemistry, 1–6. https://confchem.ccce.divched.org/sites/confchem.ccce.divched.org/files/2014FallCCCENLP5.pdf
Moore, E. B., Herzog, T. A., & Perkins K. K. (2013). Interactive simulations as implicit support for guided inquiry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 3.
Perkins, K., Adams, W., Dubson, M., Finkelstein, N., Reid, S., & Wieman, C. (2006). PhET: Interactive simulations for teaching and learning physics. The Physics Teacher, 44(1), 18.
Sharma, M., Johnston, I., Johnston, H., Varvell, K., Robertson, G., Hopkins, A., Stewart, C., Cooper, I., & Thornton, R. (2010). Use of interactive lecture demonstrations: A ten year study. Physical Review Special Topics Physics Education Research, 6(2), 020119.
Sokoloff, D. R. & Thornton, R. K. (2006). Interactive lecture demonstrations: Active learning in introductory physics. Wiley.
Tullis, J. G. & Goldstone, R. L. (2020). Why does peer instruction benefit student learning? Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 5, 15.
| Related exhibitors: | PhET Interactive Simulations |
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