This is the presentation from my workshot at CEESA, March 2013. The focus was on using web-based simulations to enhance learning in a chemistry class.

1. Using
Web-Based Simulations/Animations
to Enhance Learning in your Chemistry Classroom
CEESA 2013
Presented by Lowell Thomson
American International School of Bucharest
lthomson@goaisb.ro
@thomsonscience on Twitter
Using Twitter now?
Please use #ceesaconf and #chemsims for the backchannel conversation

2. Agenda
• Resources
• Quick No-Frills Introduction (and what you will not hear
today)
• Twitter Backchannel #CEESA2013 and #chemsims
• Justification for Simulations
• Simulations, Simulations, Simulations
• Considerations when using simulations
• My next steps…
• Your next steps…
• Add your own simulations to the resources section
• Questions?

3. Resources
http://sites.google.com/site/thomsonscience2013
I just tweeted a link before starting the workshop…if
that works for you.
It is also linked on the “handouts” page of the CEESA
Conference Website.
Paperless…going green.

4. Quick No-Frills Introduction
• DP Chemistry Teacher at AISB
• 13 years in the U.S.
• 3 years in Thailand
• Currently 3rd year in Romania
• Love to use technology in my classroom
• I utilize a flipped model
• AISB is 1-1, grades 6-10 and BYOD/BYOL,11-12.
• I’m not the only expert in the room and hope I can
be as much facilitator as presenter
• Feel free to ask questions on the spot

5. This presentation will NOT be…
• A call to skip wet chemistry in favor of simulations
• Me talking the entire 60 minutes (hopefully…)
– I want us to explore a few of the simulations together to
share ideas
– And at the end, I’m hopeful you’ll share a simulation or
two that you use on a Google Form I’ve created.

6. Deliberately not 60 minutes of talking…
• I always leave workshops wishing I had a bit more
time to play around with the ideas presented.
• Therefore, I ask that if it fits your learning style,
grab your laptop/tablet and start playing around
with the simulations as we’re working through
them.
• I don’t want you to sit here listening to me read a
bunch of slides. Like I just did. We’d all get bored.
Fast.

7. Twitter
#ceesaconf
#chemsims

8. Justification
For teachers of DP Chemistry, it is required to use
simulations at least once during a two-year course.
AIMS of Group 4
3. enable students to apply and use a body of
knowledge, methods and techniques that characterize
science and technology
4. develop an ability to analyse, evaluate and synthesize
scientific information
6. develop experimental and investigative scientific skills
7. develop and apply the students’ information and
communication technology skills in the study of
science
Source: Chemistry Guide, First Examinations 2009, published by IBO.

9. Justification
Source: Chemistry Guide, First Examinations 2009, published by IBO.

10. Justification
Source: Chemistry Guide, First Examinations 2009, published by IBO.

11. Aim 7 for Syllabus Statements
SL: 12 references to simulations in Teacher Notes
HL: 7 additional references
Options: Many more references to Aim 7

12. Justification (Non-IB)
• My belief:
–Best practices should be supported by evidence.
• If the opportunity exists, conduct Action Research
within your own classes to see if your
improvements make a difference.

13. From The Research
“Students who used simulations as part of the
instructional sequence outscored students who did
not on each of the summative assessments…”
Source
Brunsell, Eric and Horesji, Martin. “Science 2.0:
Simulations in the Classroom.” The Science Teacher,
December 2012.

14. Types of Simulations (aka How I use them)
• Quick pre-lab simulation
• “Lab” experience
• Conceptual understanding

15. Quick Pre-Lab Simulations
Empirical Formula of a Hydrate (Topic 1.2.5)
http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/projectfolder/flash
files/stoichiometry/empirical.html
Handout provided.

16. Not-So-Quick Pre-Lab Simulations
Titration Virtual Lab (Topic 8 and 18.4)
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/mihyewon/chemlab_
experiment.html
And…
http://www.wfu.edu/~ylwong/chem/titrationsimulat
or/index.html
Handout provided, and a separate data sheet.

17. Full Lab Simulations
Equilibrium (Topic 7.1, 7.2, 17.2)
http://www.chm.davidson.edu/ronutt/che115/EquKin
/EquKin.htm
http://chemconnections.org/Java/equilibrium/index.h
tml
Handout provided for HL and SL

18. Full Lab Simulations
Redox and Activity Series (Topic 9)
http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/sect
ions/projectfolder/flashfiles/redox/home.htm
Handout provided, and a sample video introduction
for my students.

19. Full Lab Simulations
Voltaic Cells (Topic 9.4)
http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/
projectfolder/flashfiles/electroChem/voltaicCell20.h
tml
Note: This one loads a bit slowly in my experience.

20. Conceptual Understanding
Equations/Predicting Products (Topic 1.3.2)
Handout provided.
http://www.harpercollege.edu/tm-
ps/chm/100/dgodambe/thedisk/chemrxn/practice.
htm
OR
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/balancing-
chemical-equations

21. Conceptual Understanding
Maxwell-Boltzmann Distributions (Topic 6.2.5)
http://www.chm.davidson.edu/vce/KineticMolecularT
heory/Maxwell.html

22. Conceptual Understanding
Isotopes (Topic 2.1)
Handout provided.
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/isotopes-
and-atomic-mass
Mass Spectrometer (Topic 2.2.1)
http://www.media.pearson.com.au/schools/cw/au_sc
h_lewis_cw1/int/massSpectrometer/0703.html

23. Conceptual Understanding
Periodic Properties
http://www.wou.edu/las/physci/ch412/Periodic%20tr
ends/periodic_trends.htm
Scroll down to the bottom to download an Excel
spreadsheet that will give you 3-D graphs of major
trends from the periodic table.

24. Conceptual Understanding
Gas Laws
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/gas-
properties
And a handout for the following two simulations:
http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/
projectfolder/flashfiles/gaslaw/boyles_law_graph.h
tml
http://group.chem.iastate.edu/Greenbowe/sections/
projectfolder/flashfiles/gaslaw/charles_law.html

25. Conceptual Understanding
Voltaic Cells (Animation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oSqPDD2rMA
This is something I’d use in class, or within a lecture
video.

26. Conceptual Understanding
Electron Configuration (Topic 12.1.6)
http://introchem.chem.okstate.edu/DCICLA/Aufbau.s
wf
OR
http://chemcollective.org/activities/simulations/perta
ble

27. Conceptual Understanding
Chemical Bonding and Molecular Shapes (Topic 4.2)
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/molecule-
shapes
Just found this one…will be trying it next week!

28. Considerations for Using Simulations
• Class set of headphones for student use
• Video introduction to simulation
– Depends on complexity
• In class vs. homework?
– My preference: At a minimum, I start them in class.
• Substitute vs. Supplement?
– I don’t have a good answer for this one.
• Technology Issues
• Limitations of Simulations (ToK issue)

29. My next steps…
• More inquiry-based activities
• Organic reaction animations
• More simulations for HL concepts
• Student-created Flash animations (?)

30. Your next steps…
1. Add resource ideas if you have them… (next slide)
2. Send me an email with some feedback… (the
following slide…)

31. Add your own resources!
• Go to the “Add Your Own Resource” tab to add links
to simulations that you use in your classroom.
These can be from any subject area.
• Then go to “Participant Resources” to see what
we’ve added as a group.
– I’ve put in a few as examples to get us started.
• I’ll leave the website up for indefinetely, so check
back in a day or two in case others have uploaded
their resources.

32. What are your next steps?
Borrowing an idea from @ewanmcintosh
Please email me: lthomson@goaisb.ro
1. Two stars
2. One wish
3. Your next steps in terms of using simulations in
your classroom

33. Thank you
Questions?
And if you think of something after the fact, feel free
to email me with your questions/comments.
lthomson@goaisb.ro