Interactive simulations and equations
Essential Physics contains a wide variety of interactive simulations and interactive equations. You can easily navigate to these interactive elements in the following ways:
- To view a list of links to all interactive simulations and equations in the textbook, select the
Interactives icon from the home screen. - To view a list of links to all interactive simulations and equations in a given chapter, navigate to a page in that chapter and select the
Interactives icon from the page navigation bar.
Interactive simulations
The Interactive Simulation icon, outlined in red below, can be found in many places throughout the eBook, including several investigations. Clicking this icon will open an interactive simulation, which can be run directly within the browser. These simulations allow students to rapidly explore physics ideas with visualizations that make concepts easier to grasp.
Tip
To increase student engagement, project an interactive simulation at the front of the classroom and use it to ask your students "what if" questions.
The image below shows a typical example of an interactive simulation. The white boxes indicate fields in which values can be manually entered. The gray boxes indicate fields with values that are calculated based on the values in the white boxes. Press the Run button to run the simulation with the current values, or press Reset to return all fields to their default value. You can enter values into the fields with a keyboard or with the keypad on the right.
Note
Not all simulations will feature Run and Reset buttons or a keypad.
Self-grading interactive simulations
Many of the simulations included in Essential Physics are self-grading. In these simulations, students are asked to solve a randomized scenario, and they may keep refining their solution until they get a high score. The waves simulation on page 413, shown below, is a good example of this.
The lesson plans, student assignments, and slides provide teaching strategies for using all relevant simulations effectively. For example, the waves simulation above is easiest to solve if students set the amplitude and wavelength with the simulation paused, then press Play/Pause to set the frequency while the simulation is running.
Interactive equations
Essential Physics contains a variety of interactive equations, which are ideal teaching tools for both students and teachers, especially when used with a projector or smart board. Many of these equations are animated to show the effect of changes to any of the variables. To open an interactive equation, click the Interactive Equation button next to an equation, outlined in red in the example below.
Each interactive equation includes three to six practice problems. These problems help to teach problem solving skills and can be displayed using the blue boxes labeled A, B, C, and so on.
Teaching with practice problems in interactive equations
Many students have difficulty with translating word problems into a solvable mathematical statement. The practice problems and interactive equations provide an effective way to teach this skill. The following steps outline a sample procedure to help students learn word problems with an interactive equation, using the equation below as an example.
- Display a practice problem to the class. Ask the students what quantity the problem is asking them to calculate; in this case, the answer is acceleration.
- Once students have answered correctly, select the unknown quantity from the Solve for drop-down menu. This will cause the unknown quantity's box to turn gray, indicating that it is now being calculated based on the values of the white editable boxes.
- Re-read the problem with your students, prompting them to identify each of the values in the white boxes that must be filled to calculate the solution in the gray box. In this example, they will need the initial velocity, final velocity, and time.
- Point out key words such as "at rest", which means that the initial velocity is zero.
- Try out a variety of solutions at the suggestion of your class, checking the result each time, until the group arrives at the correct solution.