Why I Started Creating & Using Computer Based Simulation Labs

Science Teaching & Technology by Multimedia Science
Why I Started Creating & Using Computer Based Simulation Labs
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Terminal Velocity Lab – The Good & The Bad

For many years I had students run a lab to find the terminal velocity of equally sized spheres of different materials.  It was an excellent hands-on lab for the students which led to a good understanding of both the concepts of and finding of terminal velocity and was one of my favorites.

However, there were difficulties associated with the set-up, running, and results of this lab as follows (see schematic below):

  • The equipment setup was tedious and time consuming, both for me and the students
    • There were lots of pieces to store, unpack, and lay out including a 6 foot glass tube, not to mention the storage requirements.
    • Students had to set up two photo-gate timers precisely with several ring stand holders that tended to slide and twist to make that difficult. Again, this was time consuming.
  • The data was not always very accurate leading to graphs that were difficult to analyze
    • When the balls were dropped into the glass tube, they would actually bounce back and forth against the sides. This turned out to only be a problem for the lighter balls, like the Styrofoam ball. It was found that when the ventilators were on, the lighter balls were affected by the air currents.
    • Students found it very hard to drop the balls close to the top of the glass tubes, since they were standing on the desks and the tubes were above their heads.
    • Heavy balls that were dropped, occasionally, would bounce up and break the bottom of the glass tubes.
    • The glass tubes were replaced with plastic tubes but these became cloudy over time and slits had to be cut to make the photo-gate timers work.
  • Due to the set-up time and other difficulties, it was difficult to predict the timing and when to schedule the computer lab for students to evaluate the data

Even considering all of this, I persisted with a lot of effort, in running this lab successfully for many years.

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Terminal Velocity Lab Setup Schematic

Course Scheduling – The Ugly

As a former engineering graduate, I found that I had enough college credits to be certified in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.  This was great for finding a job and allowed me to teach a number of subjects so as not to become bored.  BUT, over a number of years, I found myself the “fixer.”  Everyone’s schedule would be determined and I would fill in and cover what was left.  This led to having several new preps each year.

OK, that made life pretty difficult, but along with that, I often was teaching out of a number of different classrooms, not necessarily on the same floor or in the same part of the building.  I tried to make the Terminal Velocity Lab work for the first year.  Imagine me wheeling a cart around the hallways with large glass tubes hanging out the front and back through a teeming hallway of teenagers.  And each room often had certain idiosyncrasies that made the setup of equipment even more challenging or exciting, take your pick.

Clickteam Authoring Software – The Good

For many years, I had been working on creating game, demonstration, and simulation software using an authoring program called Multimedia Fusion or now Clickteam Fusion.  That summer I set out to reinvent the Terminal Velocity Lab.

Creating the lab in software form was quite challenging.  I wanted the computer based lab to be as close to real life as possible and I had to make an acceleration of gravity engine that could be tweaked to simulate the effects of air resistance.  After two years of writing, testing, and re-writing, the software was completed.

To make it as real life as possible, students had to:

  • Drag the ball to the top of the tube
  • Not hit the top of the tube
  • Drop the ball within a small distance from the top of the tube
  • Drop the ball down the center of the tube

The Final Computer Lab – Even Better

The final lab guaranteed that students got good data since the program would not let them make mistakes like dropping the ball too high above the top photo-gate.  The program just made them do it again.

And I learned something also.  Since I programmed that small distance within which the ball needed to be dropped, the data was not perfect.  There was still error that showed up when the data was graphed.  I felt that was one sign of a good simulation.

Over the years since then, I continued to use the software based Terminal Velocity Lab even when I had my own classroom.  I ran plenty of hands on labs but both I and the students liked this simulated lab and it worked as well as the original.

The Terminal Velocity Lab software is available at Teachers Pay Teachers or at  TES.

There is now both a PC version and a PC & MAC Flash version. Some screen shots are shown below.

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Remembering My Period 6 Physics Class

The Joys of Science Teaching or
Be Careful What You Say

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There is an old saying “out of the mouths of babes,” which means something that you say when a small child says something that surprises you because it shows an adult’s wisdom and understanding of a situation. Well, I learned my lesson about this the hard way when my 6th period class presented me with a list of things that were said in my classroom, many of them by me. Yes, they were 12th graders about to graduate, but as a “lower level” class that seldom seemed to be paying really close attention, I was taken aback by the list.

I’ll share a few, just those said by me, as follows:

Showing My Age

Malarky!

Feneagle.

No tickie, no washie. (ie: no work, no grade)

Shushie. (trying to make them be quiet)

Fickle factor.

Not Sure I Believe I Said This

The tractor goes meee-rrr….meee-rrr! high pitched (pointing out that the tractor’s velocity is not 100% constant)

Whenever you see a naked number… (one without a unit)

They’ll whip out their Krypton laser… (talking about the ability to measure the unit of the second)

Leeft…Leeft…Leeft Right Leeft… (talking about my marching experience in ROTC in college)

Yeah, I wouldn’t argue politics…especialy if I was as wrong as you are.

How ‘bout you make fun of him when I’m not talking.

The units tell all. (kind of zen like)

That’d be the end of this place. (if they had chemistry classes in the physics rooms)

This guy isn’t tied too tight.

It’s sneaky. (talking about the loss of energy)

The names will be changed to protect the guilty. (something about lab reports)

He’s got me, what can I say. (student answers question correctly unexpectedly)

This is the 6th period class… something shady has to be going on.

Plugging and chugging. (putting numbers into an equation and cranking out the answer)

I might even get to nickels, dimes, and quarters! (after placing pennies on my arm and grabbing them to demonstrate the first law)

If I locked you in the trunk of a car. (a hypothetical question to talk about frames of reference)

So think about it: You’re a pair of underwear…. (talking about centripetal force)

We call this simple demonic motion.

It was in the moment.

The earth is like a giant repository of momentum.

Levin-dog here? Linus-dog? Waldinger-dog? (taking attendence)

You know, Andrew, in the beginning of the year, I wondered what people meant when they said that you were annoying…now I know.

Let’s say I jump out of an airplane without a parachute. (class claps)

You have a fecal imagination. (don’t remember ever saying this)

And The Worst Of All

I remember my first year of teaching, you know, the year where you do everything right. I was using the “happy” and “sad” balls to demonstrate elastic and inelastic collisions. Holding up the two identical looking rubber spheres, I announced, “These are my balls.” I’m only glad that I was not being observed at the time.

Turns out there were a number of innocent comments that could also be taken in a less than innocent fashion that I had not thought about.

Kinda neat, they bounce up and down. (metal spheres on springs)

I stood on the ceiling and blew on the ball. (probably not accurate – talking about a monkey and the hunter demo where I blew into a tube with a ball in it near the ceiling)

Both rods are attracting. (electrostatics)

Don’t stick the ball in! (keeping student from putting tennis ball in cannon)

Wait, let me get out everyone’s favorite toy. (Newton’s cradle)

How can objects be electrified by rubbing?

Rubbing it slow or fast doesn’t matter. (believe I said rubbing the strip)

I like my strings real tight. (talking about my tennis racquet)

I think you guys noticed that you get in pretty deep pretty fast. (comment about how vector problems get complicated easily)

Put a point protector on. (when making a graph)

I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t play with them any more than you have to. (students playing with motion lab cars)

Provided By Multimedia Science

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The Smokestack – Not All It’s Stacked Up To Be

Science Teaching & Technology by Multimedia Science
Industrial Experience & the Science Classroom

Question: Does industrial experience help a teacher to explain science concepts in the classroom?

My findings after spending 15 years in chemical engineering and 30 years teaching chemistry and physics at the high school level is a resounding YES.

The link below leads to a story about one of my first jobs as a chemical engineer working for Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  My students always found this real life story about climbing smoke stacks to do air pollution testing both amusing and interesting.  It helped them to understand how what they were learning was used in the real world and gave them a taste of what a real world job required.

The Smoke Stack – Not All It’s Stacked Up To Be

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Brought to you by Multimedia Science, creators of science software and materials and teacher tools to create games for any grade or curriculum.

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Multimedia Science Android Apps Now On Appliv Discovery Platform

A number of Multimedia Science’s chemistry and physics applications have been ported to and are now available as Android Apps.  One example is the Torque Challenge where you must understand torque to balance the beam.  And several of these apps are free, like the Physics Acceleration game, which gives you a real understanding of acceleration, the signs of acceleration, and the difficulty of accelerating and navigating in space.

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One of the places that you can find these applications is on the Appliv Discovery Platform which catalogs tons of Android and  iPhone / iPad applications.  Their mission is, ” “Bringing apps closer to you”. Using Appliv, you can find apps you want from many app reviews such as popular Android game apps, productivity apps, music apps and more.

Appliv -iPhone/Android App Discovery Website

On Appliv you can find a review for the Torque Challenge application with more on the way.

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Evaluating Software Use in Science Education

What are the benefits of using software in the science classroom? Let’s look at a sample software physics game problem. This will lead to some guidelines on how to evaluate this type of software.

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Today’s Students Have Different Needs

Today’s students have been exposed extensively to visual input and interactivity in the form of video and games of all types on computers, tablets, and smart phones. It is only natural that they are used to working and learning using these modalities. The old fashioned lecture is no longer effective in the modern classroom environment. Educators have been turning to more visual and interactive tools, like video and PowerPoint presentations. While these tools add a visual component to the lesson, they fail at adding an interactive element. Educational software is ideally suited to add this interactivity to student learning while including a number of other benefits as well. More on this later.
Let’s say that your students need additional practice in solving physics motion problems for an upcoming test. The standard word problem worksheets used last year are readily available but the students found those worksheets boring. A lot of time was wasted keeping students on task.

Alternately, you could use a software game that covers the same problems in a more visual and interactive way, hopefully increasing student engagement.

Software Games – Yes or No?

Do you feel that educational software games are an effective learning tool in the science classroom?
• Yes
• No
• No opinion

Video

Following is a video (without sound) showing a physics motion problem set up as a software game.

A Sample Software Game Problem

This video illustrates one of the problems included in Multimedia Science’s Motion Problem Challenge game based software. The software takes typical physics’ motion word problems and turns them into game based simulations. For example, one word problem might be: A spaceship is 4000 meters from a rescue point and must be there in 14 seconds. If your starting velocity is 120 meters per second, what acceleration must you use to get to the rescue point at the exact time?
How does this computer based problem differ from the word problem? First, students find it more difficult to name the known and unknown values in these real life situations. And they find it more challenging since they also have to take a measurement in order to solve the problem. So, many students find this computer based problem more difficult than the same word problem even though they are virtually identical. This can lead to students just trying to guess the answer. But since the program changes all of the variables for each problem try, guessing is not likely to succeed.

Benefits of the Gaming Software

Students really like the fact that they can actually see the physical setup of the problem and watch it play out on the computer screen. The simulation gives them feedback on how their input solution affected the outcome and whether they were correct.
If their answer is incorrect, students are given the correct answer and use it to figure out what they did wrong. Then they get another chance at solving the problem.
The software keeps scores, allowing the teacher to use those scores to create competition or for extra credit to increase motivation.
If the software is used in front of the classroom with a projector, the teacher can ask students to come up and input their answers and the class can discuss the problem solution. If used I a computer lab setting, the teacher can move from student to student, giving them hints and encouragement and acting as a facilitator.
My experience is that students will start by complaining about how hard the software problems are. But they will continue working on the problems throughout the period and will still be working when the bell rings at the end of class. What a difference from using a worksheet approach!

Students Are Engaged by Gaming Software

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Source: Animation Factory

Not All Software Games Are Created Equal

It sounds easy to insert an entertaining game into your curriculum. But the end result may provide great entertainment with little educational value. There is also a tendency to emphasize the use of the latest technology, like 3D simulations. Sometimes the pretty pictures (eye candy) and technology becomes more important than the effectiveness of the game itself. Some of the most effective software games use the simplest and cheapest technology and are the simplest to use.

The most important aspects of choosing game software is to make sure that the software will run on your computer equipment and was designed specifically for your curriculum.

Where Is The Great Educational Software?

Well, it’s too bad that really good and effective educational software and computer games are hard to find. But they are out there and can be found with a little research effort.
Making a best-selling game, like Halo, takes lots of talented people and a lot of money. But the rewards can be quite profitable. There isn’t that kind of funding for the creation of educational games, probably due to the fact that schools and teachers don’t have the budgets to make these games profitable. Most teachers are scouring the Internet looking for free games and curriculum materials. Until we decide to devote more resources to the creation of educational games, it will be difficult to find quality games for your curriculum. I suggest that you write your representatives to fund educational technology at the local, state, and federal levels.

One way to solve the problem would be for teachers to develop computer software and games for themselves. But few teachers have the time and expertise to accomplish this.
How to Choose Educational Software

Software should be aimed at your specific curriculum.
Software should run on your computer equipment.
Software should have good directions for students.
Software should include sample problem answers for the teacher.
Software should allow students to work on their own and at their own pace.
Software should allow the teacher to be a facilitator.
Software should include some form of assessment or competition.
Software should integrate with other elements of the classroom lecture and lesson plan.

Examples Using the Sample Physics Game Problem

This problem is part of a game called Motion Problems Challenge created by Multimedia Science and available from Teachers Pay Teachers:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Multimedia-Science

  • Software should be aimed at you specific curriculum.
    The Motion Problem Challenge software covers the typical motion problems taught in a high school physics class.
  • Software should run on your computer equipment.
    The example software runs on any PC running Windows.
  • Software should have good directions.
    The software has directions for each of the five types of problems. A screen shot is shown below.
  • Software should allow students to work on their own and at their own pace.
    This software is best used by taking students to a computer lab where the software is loaded onto each computer. It often works well to have students work in pairs, especially if there is a limited number of computers. Students can then work on the problems one by one as quickly as they can.
  •  Software should allow the teacher to be a facilitator.
    As the students work on the problems, the instructor can walk from computer to computer, giving encouragement, hints, and suggestions. Since students are often engaged in solving the problems, little time is spent in dealing with behavior problems.
  • Software should include some sort of assessment or competition.
    The instructor can hand out small pieces of blank paper to each student or team of students. They put the name(s) on the paper. Near the end of the time period, the teacher notes the student(s)’ scores on the papers in a hard to duplicate pen or ink. The top scores are then given additional extra credit points.
  •  Software should integrate with other elements of the classroom lecture and lesson plan.
    Several days are typically spent illustrating to the students how to solve motion problems. Additional time is spent on practicing similar text book or worksheet paper and pencil word problems. When the students have gotten to the point where they have just about mastered the problem solving, a trip to the computer lab to play the game works well. Some final practice as necessary and the students should be ready for a quiz or test.2

    Final Overview & Thoughts

    As most good teachers know, there are seldom any rules that work all of the time. Many pundits believe that the use of drill and practice is bad pedagogy. But as part of the overall lesson plan, drill and practice has its place. For a time, collaborative learning was an educational buzzword. Teachers were using it continuously in their lessons. It took a while for both teachers and administrators to realize that ANYTHING that is used too often becomes boring and repetitive. The key is to have a balanced set of lesson plans where educational software use, drill and practice worksheets, lecture, blended learning, cooperative learning, etc., are used where it fits best and provides the most effective learning outcomes. I like to think of your course as an instructional timeline where various instructional techniques are hung sequentially as shown in the graphic below.

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Sequential Multimedia “Modules”
Source: Multimedia Science, CC-BY

More Multimedia Science Materials On Teachers Pay Teachers
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Multimedia-Science

Blogs: Science Technology, Educational Technology, Teachers Tools
http://darngoodsolutions.com/blogA/post-2/

Pinterest: Educational Science, Educational Physics, Educational Chemistry, Educational Technology, Using Games In Education
https://www.pinterest.com/hughes6497/

Multimedia Science Web Site
http://www.multimediascience.com

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SMALLab Learning & Embodied Learning

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Many physics teachers out there may have used a Pasco sonic ranger attached to a computer and a projector to show a graph of a student’s motion as they moved across the room.  SMALLab Leaning has taken that a huge step further by creating an almost room sized stage where a student’s motion could be turned into sounds, arrows on the straight line they are walking along, and a graph simultaneously.

One reason that science educators think that modeling motion this way helps students learn is that they are relating these measurements of motion to the motion of their body.  SMALLab has given this a name.  They  have called it embodied learning, which is “kinesthetic, collaborative, and multimodal.”  They believe that these embodied experiences will lead to more effective instruction.

Check out the video below showing how constant velocity can be examined by students in SMALLab’s embodied learning environment chamber (so to speak).

Internet Page With More Videos

I found it a bit unclear on the web site, but it would seem that schools could purchase a SMALLab setup that would cover a number of  science “scenarios” including chemistry titration, color mixer, disease transmission, gear ration game, to name a few.

My gut feeling is that this new technology is promising and they claim to have empirical data that it enhances student learning. So the question is whether this setup would be worth the investment, upkeep, and use of the space.  There is also the issue of scheduling the room.  Comments welcomed.

Multimedia Science has taken a somewhat similar and certainly cheaper route to try and enhance student learning of constant velocity and acceleration motion.  They created several pieces of software that allow students to see and match seeing the motion of an object, the dots formed by the object, the values of the variables of the object, and the graph of the motion of the object.  The key idea is that this software would help students to see that there are many ways of representing motion, one of which might be more intuitive for an individual student.  And that by having the students match these various methods of representing motion, they would achieve a better understanding.

Check out the software and handouts How To Represent Motion.

graphscreen     timermian

Again, comments are welcomed.

 

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Boxlight LabDisc – Portable / Wireless / 14 Sensors / Mobile Cart

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Wow!  Taking experimental data has come a long way.  The LabDisc does not require wires or changing out probes and sends data via Bluetooth.  The sensors include: accelerometer, air pressure, ambient temperature, current, distance, external temperature, light, microphone, voltage, relative humidity, pH, sound, and GPS.  The wide array of sensors allows its use for general science, biology, chemistry, and physics.

The one problem I found on the website was a lack of detailed information on compatibility with computers and tablets and what software was required to analyze and graph the data.

At first glance, this hardware would seem to have great potential to make taking lab data easier than ever.

For more information check out Boxlight’s web site.

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Chem Doodle – Chemical Publishing Software

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ChemDoodle began as a quality and affordable chemical sketcher, and has since become the most powerful chemical publishing tool in the industry, supporting all platforms and with extensions to web browsers and mobile devices.

This software might be overkill for high school chemistry classes but the cost is reasonable: $20 for a student copy, $200 for a personal copy.  The resulting chemical drawings can be ported into Word or web pages.  Download the free trial and check this software out and then post your comments here.

For more information:
Chem Doodle Site

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Symphony of Science – The Quantum World

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The universe is filled with such wondrous and unbelievable things, why shouldn’t they be set to music.

Well, someone has done it and it’s called Symphony of Science.  You can find more science music at the Symphony of Science website.

 

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Fun Science Demos

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Here are a whole bunch of science demonstrations aimed at the lower grades.  The presenters are very dynamic and obviously enjoy showing off their ways of demonstrating the concepts of science that they are teaching.

Link To Fun Science Demos

It’s hard to argue with the impact on students of a great science demonstration.  I’ve had students come back years later, saying, ” I don’t remember all that much physics, but I sure remember the tennis ball that you shot out of the cannon.”  At least they got something from my class.

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