Phun really is fun!

I must say, I was very intrigued by the programs that we were working with this week. In my chosen field of math, I have always been interested in physics and chemistry. So when I got the chance to work with programs that incorporated those two sciences, I was very excited. I believe that just playing around with Phun was fun enough for me. I really like it's understanding of how objects block water flow and without them, water flows. Also I was glad to see the programs understanding of weight and fixed objects- IE. to make axles. Molecular Workbench seemed fun- but I would like to know what else you do, other than the pre-created self assembly.

Thinking back to the schooling that I've gone through, I could see Phun being used in younger grades to show the idea of physics in a creative, entertaining way. Over the weekend, I told my Mom, a third grade teacher, about this program. I believe that students, even as young as her students, would be able to visually see the physics happening without all of the mess of actually completeing the task in real life. I think that as long as the teacher has a strong grasp of the program, students would be able to greatly benefit when studying the concepts of physics. When students get into higher grades, IE middle school, the students would benefit in their application of physics by utilizing this program.

And as far as Molecular Workbench- I see that being used in conjunction with a new concept of Chemistry in high school. I think that Molecular Workbench could be used for a pre-assessment as to the knowledge and understanding that a student or group of students might have towards the idea of positive and negative charges, molecules, and/or temperature reactivity. I think that the ability to read the direction and then work on the problem at hand is good to keep student's interest. I also think that the ability to easily take screen shots and to write comments/ observations is an excellent way for teachers to be able to assess the student's understanding during or after the exercise.

I feel that if I enjoyed using the programs that I will be interested and excited enough to continue how to learn the program and therefore I could show this, especially Phun, to other teachers in order to have them utlilze the program when working with the Physics concepts that so many Science teachers encounter.