-: Coming up on Mobile Learning in the Classroom,
Pnet interactive simulations.
(upbeat instrumental music)
Hi, welcome to Mobile Learning in the Classroom.
Today we're going to look at Pnet interactive simulations.
This is from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
It is a series of science, and chemistry, and math
simulations that you can use in your classrooms.
I was going through and playing with some of these earlier
this morning and I found one in motion
that I have yet to successfully complete.
You land the lunar module on the moon.
I'm automatically going to be drawn to apps
that have to do with science, and aerospace, and airplanes.
But the features that I want to point out to you
with this are all of the resources for teachers.
So it will tell you what level it's for,
middle school, high school.
Then there are whole bunch of different things
to go along with it and it will tell you what type it is.
There's a lab, there's a guided lab with this one.
Others have clicker questions that are pre-built in.
So if you're doing a larger unit and you want to figure out
some free resources to throw in to make your lesson
a little bit more interactive you can.
The other feature that I really like,
and then we'll go through and I'll show you
a couple of them, is the Google Classroom icon
which I haven't seen yet on other websites
so of course I had to figure out what it does.
When you go to it, if you have your class already using
Google Classroom you can choose which class it is
and you can select an action.
So I'm going to ask a question.
Then again you can build in right into Google Classroom
the interaction and have it set up.
We're going to call this Lunar Lander,
and try to land the lunar module.
And let's see here.
Then you ask it to the class, then it will automatically
post to your class and you don't even have to leave
the website with all of the other simulations in it.
What I like about this is often times when you're doing
something in class and you have the access to maybe
some interactive elements within software
that your school provides that comes with the curriculum,
students might not be able to access it at home.
With these, through Google Classroom
they can access it at home.
So as they're working through homework
or maybe they just don't quite remember that step
that they did in class or was demoed
or they got to experience,
they can have that experience at home
by just logging to Google Classroom which they've been doing
all along anyway.
Since Google Classroom can be accessed on a mobile device
they can do it from an iPad,
they can do it from a smart phone
and then they can do it from their computer.
Let's go ahead and take a look at the Lunar Lander.
Like I said, oh my, okay.
I haven't actually successfully done this one.
But it gives you directions and it's got a really
sort of 90s video game feel to it.
It's going to say if you move the up arrow
you're going to thrust up, then less thrust.
Then you can tilt it left and right.
Again with Hidden Figures that just came out
and all of the talk about NASA currently,
this could be a really cool way to sort of reorient
your students into some science concepts and talk about
what does it really take to land a lunar module on the moon?
Based on just this simulation I'm going to say
it's kind of hard because I've crashed
like 16 different times.
Then it tells you that you get points for soft landings.
If I don't die I consider it a success.
One time I only broke the legs.
My crew lived, but I broke the legs of the lunar module.
Then game over if you hit a boulder or crash land.
We're going to go ahead and give this a try.
You guys can see my little lunar module.
I tilt it, I slow down maybe.
Then I fly back up again, oh my there we go.
Not sure where I went.
Over on the right-hand side you can see
that it's telling you your altitude, the range,
velocity per minute, your thrust,
the amount of fuel you have.
Again your students can use the skills that they've learned
and use actual science to help them land their module.
Ha ha, I hit a boulder.
I'll damage the leg, lost fuel, crash landed,
killed the crew.
Like I said, not terribly successful but it lets me
try again and what's interesting is that it does
tell you what you did.
So my landing speed was 16.7 meters per second
which is really fast and not the soft landing
that you want.
It also keeps score so if you have students
that get really good at it they can keep score.
But again the idea is they get to sort of get a feel
for what it looks like, what velocity you need
to land softly.
How do you maneuver because it doesn't have breaks.
So how do you maneuver the lunar module so that
it lands properly?
Other ones that you can do that I was looking at,
there's one, States of Matter.
So if you're looking at something as simple
as the water cycle, right?
When things change state from liquid to solid,
again this one, if you go to For Teachers it gives you
all sorts of different things.
It will give you a lab demo, more lab stuff.
States of Matter an inquiry based face change,
go ahead and see what this is.
Again it gives you lesson plans, student directions,
lesson plans.
Again it gives you a lot of resources that go along
with these simulations.
As you can see over here not all of them apparently
can be sent to Google Classroom.
But if you see the icon you can.
If not, it does have an embed code so you can embed it.
You can also download them.
And they should just allow you to click on it
and see the simulation.
But that one isn't going to let me.
So since we've been looking at chemistry apps
I was trying to find other sorts of science apps for you.
This one focuses a lot on physics,
but there are also biology.
There are some chemistry ones.
There is earth science.
So gravity and orbits, glaciers.
And then there's some math ones as well.
So you can look at area, you can look at balance,
Ohm's law, vector addition.
Then down here just a list of teacher resources.
And it will give you tips for how to use them.
Comes with helpful YouTube videos,
and who doesn't love a good YouTube video?
So again just a whole lot of resources for you
that you can build into whatever sort of lesson
you're doing in science.
You can also sort by grade level so let's see
what they have for elementary school.
Area Builder, let's see what Area Builder is
Okay, so we're going to build an area.
It's an area two, perimeter six.
Then we can erase.
I can have two going at once.
Can I cross over?
No, it won't let me.
So then if I go back and see what the game option was,
go to level one.
I need to build an area of nine.
I built an area of nine and it gives me a smiley face.
Again even if you're at the elementary school level
there are ones situated for younger learners
in addition to the ones for high school and middle school,
and even university, look at that.
Again I encourage you to just go and look at the ones
that might be relevant for your students
and for whatever science unit they might be on.
Some of the great features are again they get to see
some motion.
Not all of them are great.
Like I said, a couple of games look like 90s video games.
But again, most of your students will at least remember
Oregon Trail fondly so there's always that working for ya.
This has been Mobile Learning in the Classroom.
See ya.
(upbeat instrumental music)