PhET Blog

On Thursday, June 7th from 9-12:30 PM, Trish Loeblein, PhET K-12 Specialist and Evergreen High School physics & chemistry teacher, along with a chemistry post-doc from PhET will be holding a workshop at the Instructional Support Facility (ISF) for the Cherry Creek School District in Centennial, CO on how to incorporate PhET into your high school chemistry class.

Space is limited. Please contact Mary Bartholomew at [email protected] to register for the workshop.

Cost: $10 (pay at door)

Location Details:
Instructional Support Facility (ISF)
Cherry Creek School District
5416 S. Riviera Way
Centennial, CO 80015

Check out the new tab, “Real Molecules,” in the Molecule Shapes or Molecule Shapes: Basics sims. By clicking on the tab, you can compare the VSEPR (Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion) model to real molecules.

Teachers, join us for a free introductory webinar on how to use PhET.

The presentation will be about 35 minutes with some time for questions. Sponsored by Oregon Virtual School District, the webinar is free and open to everyone.

Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Time: 3:45 pm, Pacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00)
Meeting Number: 928 566 534

To join the online meeting:
1. Go to https://oregoned.webex.com/oregoned/j.php?ED=180718897&UID=0&RT=MiM0
2. If requested, enter your name and email address.
3. This meeting does not require a password.
4. Click “Join”.

To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link: https://oregoned.webex.com/oregoned/j.php?ED=180718897&UID=0&ORT=MiM0

To join the audio conference only:
To receive a call back, provide your phone number when you join the meeting, or call the number below and enter the access code.
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-877-668-4493
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): +1-408-600-3600
Toll-free dialing restrictions: http://www.webex.com/pdf/tollfree_restrictions.pdf
Access code:928 566 534

Teachers, we need your input!

We have been experimenting with the addition of a new “Teacher” menu in our simulations. See “Teacher” along the upper left hand navigation in Molecule Shapes or Molecule Shapes: Basics. There you can change the background color to white.

Can you let us know how you might use this new Teacher menu and/or “white background” option in the comments below?

These inquiry-based activities are ideal for Grades 5-8. Through these activities students will be able to describe what air looks like at a microscopic level, explain how air applies pressure, and predict how various changes affect the pressure.

This inquiry-based activity enables students to design their own experiment where they learn how to determine the gravitational acceleration on Planet X.