PhET: Free online, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science & math simulations

The PhET project offers free interactive science simulations from the University of Colorado.  The following information was gathered from the PhET site to help summarize what the site offers.


In December 2010, the PhET Interactive Simulations Project at the University of Colorado at Boulder received grants totaling $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the O'Donnell Foundation to expand its reach to middle school science. The team of scientists, educators, and software engineers for the ongoing project design online simulations that demonstrate how scientific concepts apply in real-world scenarios. The simulations are made available free of charge to all science classes and students that wish to use them to enhance the practical components of education.


To help students visually comprehend concepts, PhET simulations animate what is invisible to the eye through the use of graphics and intuitive controls such as click-and-drag manipulation, sliders and radio buttons. In order to further encourage quantitative exploration, the simulations also offer measurement instruments including rulers, stop-watches, voltmeters and thermometers. As the user manipulates these interactive tools, responses are immediately animated thus effectively illustrating cause-and-effect relationships as well as multiple linked representations (motion of the objects, graphs, number readouts, etc.)


Principal sponsors of the site include the The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Excellence Center of Science and Mathematics Education at King Saud University, and the O'Donnell Foundation.

Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures at PBS

Middle School Science teachers and students will enjoy this PBS resource called Ocean Adventures. The site contains lesson plans, videos, interactive games, articles and other resources aligned with National Science Concept Standards. The site focuses on the themes of adaptation, ecosystems and human impact with information presented in a table format for users to easily identify the theme and types of resources available.

Be sure to check out the webinar archive for this project that can be viewed using Elluminate. The webinar for this project will help teachers with ideas on using the resources found at this site.