Advance Equitable Early Math with PhET Interactive Simulations and Storytelling Practices

Outline

10 minutes
Attendees will engage directly with free PhET simulations (sims) designed to support culturally relevant pedagogy, such as storytelling. Attendees will immediately see how diverse learners are supported in ways such as hearing and reading numbers and phrases in multiple languages.

30 minutes
Attendees will experience lessons designed to elevate student agency and creativity while building number sense. Through stories, the lessons invite creative ways to compose, decompose, and compare numbers, fostering positive math identity by inspiring confident problem solvers. Attendees will learn how to infuse storytelling into sim-based lessons to help clarify, extend, and support mathematical thinking for all learners.

20 minutes
Finally, attendees will be invited to share ideas about integrating culturally relevant pedagogy, such as storytelling and small or large group discussions. Attendees will collaborate and brainstorm ways sims can support number sense in the K-2 classroom for all learners.

Supporting research

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., Whiacre, 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.