Review for:Pendulum Applet

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posted: on November 16, 2007 at 3:39PM

My rating of this resource: *****

My experience using this resource:

Physics

Topic I was teaching:

Work and Energy

My learning goal for which this resource was used:

To provide a link between pendulums (which we have done before) and energy (KE and GPE), looking at the interplay between conserved energy and the motion of the pendulum

Course Level:

Honors or Advanced

How I/my students used the resource:

While introducing energy we looked at this on the smartboard in class. It was linked in the pdf notes so that students could play around with it later.

Value Added:

Provides visualization or animation, Increases graphing skills, Provides access to data sets, Provides a virtual lab, Increases student engagement and motivation

Strengths:

Everything seems accurate, you can change anything you wish to. It could be used as a lab for pendulums, though I dislike using simulations in the lab when real things are available. It works quickly and shows live KE and GPE graph traces.

Weaknesses:

Apparently if you leave it on for a very long time it gains energy... I did not find this to be relevant for the time I was working with it.