Category: 2012
Just got back from the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE 2012), where I participated in a symposium titled “Web-Based Resources for Chemical Education.” About 60 people attended to learn about Molecular Workbench and other online tools and resources. One of the audience questions was about future availability of Molecular Workbench on the iPad and other tablets. […]
It is my goal to make the Energy2D software a powerful simulation tool for a wide audience. Last week I have added some engineering examples and blogged about them.Last night I came up with an idea for simulating mantle convection, the slow creeping mo…
Last week, Paul, Ed, and I did physics. This is such a rare event that it deserves note. We actually developed a theory, collected data, compared theory to data, came up with new ideas and tested them. We only wish kids everywhere could have the same experience. This investigation was prompted by Ewa Kedzierska’s presentation […]
The first stable version of Energy2D, an open-source and free heat transfer simulation tool made possible by funding from the National Science Foundation, is now available for download. The program can be installed as a desktop app, which can be used t…
I recently attended the modestly named World Conference on Physics Education in Istanbul. One of the highlights of the meeting was connecting with my old friend Ton Ellermeijer and meeting his colleague, André Heck. Some of the most innovative developments in educational technology have been made during the last 25 years at the AMSTEL Institute […]
A thermostat is a controller that maintains a system’s temperature near a fixed point. The simplest thermostat does this by switching a heater or AC on and off to maintain the desired temperature (known as the bang-bang control). I spent a couple of da…
Energy2D is our signature software for heat transfer and fluid dynamics simulations. Written in Java, it runs speedily either as a standalone app on your desktop or an embedded applet within a browser. It is actively being developed to meet the need of…
The Molecular Workbench software has been widely used in middle and high schools. It is relatively unknown that many colleges and universities around the world use it in their classrooms as well.Recently, the software was used in the Summer School in t…
We’re in the midst of a remarkable transition in education – a change that will give teachers more flexibility in the resources they use in their classroom. The growing role of digital textbooks is gaining momentum. Major publishers are not just converting their textbooks to digital format, they’re also reconceptualizing them, adding a more diverse […]
Last month, North Carolina’s Senate passed a bill that would have required the state’s Coastal Resources Commission to base predictions of future sea level rise along the state’s coast on a steady, linear rate of increase. This has sparked controversie…