Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

These quick tips from the Faculty Teaching Institute can allow students to observe real or virtual experiments of physical phenomena.

Build on students’ prior knowledge, and connect to the real world. Elicit student ideas about a topic, and then use the demonstration or simulation to test their ideas. For example, before a simulation or demonstration on buoyancy, ask “What do you think affects whether something floats? Do you think it matters what liquid we place the object into?”

Ask students to predict what will happen before doing a demonstration or showing a simulation; for example, what will happen when a variable or parameter is changed, or what a graph might look like. Predictions can be multiple-choice or open-ended.

Make it interactive with think-pair-share or Interactive Lecture Demonstrations. You can ask students to make predictions in multiple steps: Ask students to make an individual prediction, then discuss the physical reasoning for their predictions in their group and update their predictions, and then ask for a few volunteers to do so for the whole class. Even when students agree on the predicted outcome, they may have differing reasons. You might collect predictions at each step through polling. See also Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILD) on PhysPort.org.

Conduct the experiment or simulation, and discuss comparisons to the predictions. It can be a joyful, exciting moment when students see the result of a demonstration they’ve thought carefully about. Follow up with a whole-class discussion about the results.

Additional practices for simulations:

• Create think-pair-share polling questions to support student learning.
  • Use images from the simulation. Use images from the simulation in the question or answer choices to make use of the visual model that students are already familiar with.
  • Use the simulation to verify the answer. Rather than telling students the answer to the question, show them the answer – by closing the switch, displaying the graph, etc.
• Stretch-it questioning. You can use the simulation to generate further open-ended questioning and deeper learning. What will happen if I add a second bulb to the circuit? If I move the zero volts line?
• Use simulations with activities and homework. You can use simulations with lab, in-class, or homework activities. When doing these, it’s best to start with open-exploration time, and use challenge prompts instead of explicit detailed instructions. For example:
  • What’s the biggest… orbit you can make?
  • List all the essential items to…make a circuit.
  • What are two ways to…increase the kinetic energy of the skater?

This Expert Recommendation is based in part on S. Chasteen & Y-y, Carpenter, How can I use PhET Simulations in my physics class? (PhysPort, 2022).

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants DUE-2141678, 2141745, 2141769, 2141795, and 2142045.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.