CU's PhET Interactive Simulations project selected as a Tech Award Laureate - 9/15/11
We are honored to have been selected as a 2011 Tech Award Laureate. The Tech Awards, a signature program of The Tech Museum, and presented by Applied Materials, Inc., selected PhET as one of three laureates for the Microsoft Education Award - out of over 600 nominations representing 54 countries. The Tech Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity is one of the premier annual humanitarian awards programs in the world, recognizing technical solutions that benefit humanity and address the most critical issues facing our planet and its people.
For those new to PhET and our work to advance science literacy and education worldwide, we include a brief introduction to the project below. We also include links to photos of PhET being used around the world, our Tech Award application, and an amazing nomination letter written by PhET user Sandor Nagy from Hungary.
Identifying the problem: |
Science education is not achieving desired levels of student interest, literacy, and technical expertise. |
Our mission: |
To advance science literacy and education worldwide through free interactive simulations. |
Our approach: |
For teachers and students around the world, the PhET project provides interactive simulations that are based on extensive education research and support more effective science education. Going beyond traditional educational resources, PhET simulations offer an intuitive, game-like environment where students can learn through scientist-like exploration, where dynamic visual representations make the invisible visible, and where science ideas are connected to real-world phenomena. Unlike most educational software, PhET simulations are free, easily translated into multiple languages, and available either online or offline, especially important for areas with poor or no internet connectivity. With their flexible design, the simulations can be used in many ways - as demos, homework, or inexpensive yet accurate and realistic lab alternatives. |
Our impact: |
PhET use in Cambodia. Teachers and students around the world are using PhET simulations, from grade school to university and in more than 60 languages. Some specifics:
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Our Major Sponsors |
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Media Contacts: |
Kathy Perkins, Director, [email protected] |
Additional Information
- CU Press release announcing PhET's Tech Award (pdf)
- Press release announcing all 15 Tech Award Laureates for 2011
- Tech Award Application (pdf)
- Letter of Support from Sandor Nagy in Hungary (pdf)
- The PhET Team
- Photos of PhET use around the world
- Research on PhET simulations
- Prior press releases covering PhET
- 10/28/2002: CU Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman Launches Project To Improve Physics And Science Education
- 5/24/2006: CU Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman's Physics Education Web Site Wins Two Online Awards
- 9/29/2006: CU Professor Carl Wieman Receives Highest Honor Given By American Association Of Physics Teachers
- 9/27/2007: CU Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman's Physics Education Web Site Wins International Online Award
- 2/2/2009: CU-Boulder Online Simulation Project Gets $1.1 Million Grant, Continues to Change the Way Science is Taught
- 11/29/2010: Online Science Project Launched by CU Nobel Laureate Receives $2.5 Million to Enhance Middle School Science