You are here:

Inquiry-based Lessons and PhET Simulations - A great match for Middle School Classrooms
PROCEEDINGS

, UTeach Outreach, United States

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, in Austin, Texas, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-92-1 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA

Full Text

Abstract

How can simulations combined with an inquiry model of teaching be effective in maximizing students’ learning and understanding of challenging concepts? PhET simulations are interactive research-based simulations of physical phenomena that are free and available on the Internet (see http://phet.colorado.edu). Part I of the workshop is an introduction to PhET simulations and Part II is the presentation of two inquiry-based lessons. During the presentation of the lessons, the inquiry teaching model will be discussed and emphasis will be placed on how the model is an effective tool in the classroom resulting in increased student engagement. Inquiry-based lesson plans and supplemental teacher materials will be supplied. The target audience for the workshop is anyone wishing to create learning experiences for middle school students following the inquiry model accompanied by simulations. The content covered in the workshop is aligned with the Physical Science National Standards.

Citation

Zimmer, E. (2012). Inquiry-based Lessons and PhET Simulations - A great match for Middle School Classrooms. In P. Resta (Ed.), Proceedings of SITE 2012--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2652-2654). Austin, Texas, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 20, 2023 from .

Keywords

References

View References & Citations Map
  1. Adams, W.K., Paulson, A., & Wieman, C.E. (2009). What Levels of Guidance Promote Engaged Exploration with Interactive Simulations? PERC Proceedings.
  2. Begel, A., & Nagappan, N. (2008). Pair Programming: what’s in it for me? Proceedings of the Second ACM-IEEE international symposium on Empirical software engineering and measurement, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY.
  3. Bybee, R.W., Taylor, A.J., Gardner, A., Scotter, P.V., Powell, J.C., Westbrook, A., & Landes, N. (2006). The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Origins, Effectiveness and Applications– Executive Summary. Colorado Springs, CO: BSCS.
  4. National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington DC: The National Academies Press.
  5. Paulson, A., Perkins, K., & Adams, W. (2009). How does the type of guidance affect student use of an interactive simulation? Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., in review. PhET Team About page (2011) http://phet.colorado.edu/en/about.
  6. Podolefsky, N.S., Perkins, K.K., & Adams, W.K. (2010). Factors promoting engaged exploration with computer simulations. Physical Review Special Topics– Physics Education Research, Res. 6, 020117.
  7. Werner, L.L., Denner J., & Bean, S. (2004). Pair Programming Strategies for Middle School Girls. Procceedings of the Seventh IASTED International Conference Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Kauai, HI. 16-18.

These references have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. Signed in users can suggest corrections to these mistakes.

Suggest Corrections to References

Also Read