Not every student learns physics the same way, so an instructor needs a variety of tools at their disposal. We offer interactive activities that strengthen conceptual understanding and improve data analysis skills, appropriate for a college-level introductory physics course. Our activities mimic what students experience in labs – exploring concepts through data collection and analysis – with all the complexities of working with real equipment. Our simulation parameters are based on real equipment and real experimental data. Utilizing our many years of collegiate teaching experience, the activities effectively guide students in their data collection and analysis while still ensuring that they employ problem-solving techniques.

These activities are perfect for prelab assignments, homework, in-class use, or even as an online lab course. Instructors have the flexibility to choose which activities to add to their courses, all housed in a purpose-built platform. We also provide an easy-to-use interface for instructors, which can be used to track student progress and provide individualized feedback for all student responses.

Our activities are based on real experiments, not an idealized setup. We include effects such as air drag, friction, and instrument latency, but also random variations in experimental parameters. We use real data to determine the range of possible outcomes, so students do not get exactly the same value for an outcome, just like they would in a real lab setting. This variation in results allows the students to explore the concepts of precision and accuracy in our activities – something that is missing from most simulation-based assignments.

Unlike some other physics simulation sites, we developed the simulation and accompanying questions together. Each activity begins with a list of student learning outcomes, which allows instructors to easily map an activity to course outcomes. Additionally, the activities guide students through data collection and analysis by asking a series of carefully crafted questions intended to invoke critical thinking. We use both multiple choice and short answer questions. Students receive immediate feedback on multiple choice question, when appropriate, with explanations on why their response was incorrect. Short answer questions require students to demonstrate their reasoning skills in various contexts. We want students to gain a deeper understanding of physics!

With registration, students get 6 months access to a single course. Instructors can choose to add any of our activities to their courses. Topics of activities include:

• Free fall
• Projectile motion
• Newton's laws
• Uniform circular motion
• Kinetic energy
• Energy conservation
• Collisions
• Angular kinematics
• Torque
• Simple Harmonic Motion
• Archimedes's principle
• Calorimetry (Coming Soon)

More activities are constantly being added!