What might the climate of the future be like? Students explore this question in the High-Adventure Science curriculum unit “Modeling Earth’s Climate.” And in the October issue of The Science Teacher, Amy Pallant, Hee-Sun Lee, and Sarah Pryputniewicz describe the systems approach to the curriculum.
At the heart of Molecular Workbench’s modeling of atomic interactions is a profoundly important but fundamentally simple concept: At close distances, atoms attract each other until they get so close that they repel. Here’s a demo of that concept: two atoms interacting. Drag the green atom to various locations near and far from the purple […]
Cynthia McIntyre, Trudi Lord and Paul Horwitz describe the Evolution Readiness curriculum in the October issue of Science & Children, which focuses on hard-to-teach concepts. The computer-based and hands-on activities help fourth grade students learn the big ideas of evolution.
A hypothetical nano sorting machine. The International Journal of Engineering Education published our paper “A Visual Approach to Nanotechnology Education.” The paper presents a systematic approach based on scientific visualization to teaching and learning concepts in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Five types of mathematical models are used to generate visual, interactive simulations that provide a powerful […]
Energy2D, an open-source, interactive energy simulation tool, is now available for free download. Install the first stable version of Energy2D as a desktop app and create high-quality simulations that run in Web browsers for heat transfer, fluid dynamics, geoscience and more.
Natural user interfaces (NUIs) are the third generation of user interface for computers, after command line interfaces and graphical user interfaces. A NUI uses natural elements or natural interactions (such as voice or gestures) to control a computer …
ThermoregulationProject Lead The Way (PLTW) is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education curricular programs used in middle and high schools across the US. The PLTW Pathway To Eng…
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 […]