Review for:PhET's Energy Skate Park

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posted: on November 16, 2007 at 3:31PM

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:

I wanted to show how KE transforms to GPE and back.

Course Level:

Honors or Advanced

How I/my students used the resource:

I showed it on the smartboard during class and linked it in the classnotes (online in pdf form) so that kids could play with it at home if they wanted. We ran several simulations and looked at the graphs of KE and GPE and total energy, including friction at times.

Value Added:

Provides visualization or animation, Increases graphing skills, Provides a virtual lab, Increases student engagement and motivation

Strengths:

Energy Skate park is fun! You can change the skater, change the track, watch as the skater falls off of the track, etc. It seems to mostly follow the laws of Physics.

Weaknesses:

Getting it to show exactly what you want is sometimes hard. It will show things, but it has only a few ways to show them. You have to carefully point out, sometimes, what it is you want the kids to observe.

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