Virtual Workshop: Math

Now, it’s time to step into the role of a student and work through a PhET activity. This will give you an understanding of what it is like to experience a simulation for the first time and how you might progress through it, so you can understand what your students will be going through in your activity.

Imagine you are a 7th grade math student - you know how to identify integers as positive or negative, you can plot integers on a number line, and you understand absolute value as the distance from zero. Today, you’ll use Build an Atom to use this knowledge in the context of atomic charge.

Begin by openly playing around with the simulation for about 5 minutes. Figure out how to use it, find the controls, and take note of what kind of questions you have. We call this “open play time”.

Now that you’ve gotten to know the sim, listen to how a discussion following open play time with students may be facilitated.

Next, you’ll be working on #2-12 of the activity below.

Reflect on the flow of the lesson you just experienced and how it was structured. There are many ways to teach using a PhET sim, but this lesson follows a simple structure that is easy to replicate:

• Open play: students playing with the sim and learning how to use the sim without guidance

• Share-out: students share how to use the sim and discoveries they made with teacher facilitating

• Activity sheet: students work through open-ended challenge prompts that encourage multiple correct answers

• Discussion and check-in: students pause periodically to discuss with peers or the whole class while the teacher circulates and checks in with individuals and groups

• Summary discussion: teacher facilitates a discussion where students share their thinking and teacher guides students toward the learning goals

Dr. David Webb presents on progressive formalization and Equality Explorer, and how important progressive formalization is in the development of deep conceptual understanding.

Play with the Equality Explorer simulation if you aren’t already familiar with it!

Before you get started writing your own lesson, it may help to look at how other educators have used your simulation. This section will introduce you to the resources available for teachers on the PhET website, including: sample learning goals, CCSS-alignment, and activities shared both by PhET and by other teachers.

As you get started planning your lesson, consider the technology you have available, and how much time you plan to take on the topic. Since PhET sims can be used to teach many topics covering many days of instruction, it is best to choose 2-3 learning goals for a single lesson plan. We recommend some specific strategies for writing learning goals.

Start by looking at the following activity sheets, and take notes on what you notice about the questions. Do you have any critiques? What do you like, or not like?

• Activity Sheet 1

  

• Activity Sheet 2

  

• Activity Sheet 3

  

Watch an overview of our recommended strategies for writing a sim-based lesson. This presentation includes research-based activity-writing strategies, teacher insights, and real classroom footage.

Writing an open-ended challenge prompt can be really challenging! The goal is to keep the prompts open enough that you aren’t instructing students on how to use the sim, but specific enough that students are achieving your learning goals.

Example: Proportion Playground

"In this example, all students will be “answer-makers” because they are following the directions and finding an answer. If every student is doing the same thing with the sim, it is not taking full advantage of the exploratory nature of simulations. If every student is trying to find the same answers, it becomes harder to have a rich discussion."

"In this version of the prompt, students are guided to find structure in their necklaces, and notice patterns in the numbers that produce the same bead pattern. All students get to the same learning goal as above, but by comparing results, students can easily see many iterations and use their own language to generalize their observations."

1. Build an Atom

2. Area Model Multiplication

3. Graphing Lines

4. Function Builder

5. Unit Rates

Some final reminders as you write your own lesson:

• Keep it short

• Use sim-focused challenge prompts and tables to scaffold student progress but support student autonomy

• Include explicit stopping points for students to discuss findings

• Include teacher notes with sample discussion questions

• Allow extra time for unexpected student discoveries

After you have had a chance to teach with your lesson, take a moment to reflect on the parts that went well and what you would change.

After you have made your final lesson tweaks, don’t forget to share your lesson on the PhET website for the teacher community. If you’ve followed the guidelines in this workshop, your activity should earn a gold star.