CPU: Constructing Physics Understanding
Grades 8-12

20 Awesome Physics Simulators

Now you can equip each of your students with their own ripple tank, sound lab, electrostatic lab bench, and ultrascope. And that's just the beginning!

Constructing Physics Understanding (CPU) is a program that consists of two CD-ROMs - The Simulation Software that lets your students conduct countless experiments, and the Curriculum Units which provides 300+ hours of lessons and activities.

The Simulation Software contains 20 Java simulators (plus other applets) complemented with detailed tutorials that explain how to use and manipulate the simulators. The program contains the following units:

Developed with funding from the National Science Foundation. Development coordinated through San Diego State University.

Two point-sources in the Ripple Lab.

Waves passing through a two-slit
baffle in the Ripple Lab.

Freezing water in the Small
Particle Motion Unit.

A Parallel and Series Circuit in the
Current Electricity Simulator.

• Five Light and Color Simulator applets: Shadows and Pinholes; Reflection and Refraction; Mirror Images; Lens Images; Color beams
• Six Static Electricity and Magnetism Simulator applets: Electric and Magnetic Field Patterns; Electrostatic Workbench; Faraday Pail; Electrophorus; Dipole Playground; Coulomb's Law
• Two Waves and Sound Simulator applets: Ripple Lab; Sound Lab
• Force and Motion Simulator applet
• Current Electricity Simulator applet
• Five Small Particle Model Simulator applets: Pressure simulator; Ideal Gas; Diffusion; Evaporation and Condensation; Melting and Freezing
• Idea Container applet for recording and keeping track of evolving ideas

The simulators provide multi-purpose usage in a classroom environment - Teachers, design your own setups and use them in demo mode to reinforce any physics curricula ... particularly those that emphasize conceptual understanding. Or, integrate the simulators into your lab activities to enhance, support and develop more understanding to hands-on activities.

The Curriculum Units is a series of seven model units, each designed to help students develop valid and robust ideas in different topical areas in physics and physical science. The units cover Light and Color, Force and Motion, Waves and Sound, Static Electricity and Magnetism, Current Electricity, Underpinnings, and Nature of Matter. The lessons provide a brief overview of target ideas, materials and equipment lists, hints on material setup, detailed comments about activities, tips on computer simulations and even suggested homework.

Each unit is made up of a carefully sequenced set of laboratory/discussion activities embedded in a student-oriented pedagogy. Students are presented with the relevant simulators that complement and extend the lab experiments. And, there is a detailed Teacher's Guide for each. Finally, you are able to select from computer-based or paper-and-pencil versions for each activity.

CPU Pedagogy

CPU pedagogy and materials are closely aligned with the NRC National Science Education Standards (NSES) and the AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy. In addition to content and pedagogy Standards, the project is in alignment with the Standards in areas such as the nature of science, science as a human endeavor, and nature of scientific inquiry. The pedagogy is based on cycles consisting of: Eliciting students' ideas; guided development, in which students modify or discard their old ideas and/or develop new ones in a movement toward target ideas;consensus building, where students share understanding developed in the activities, clarifying and solidifying target ideas and; application of target ideas to new situations.

Each CPU curriculum unit (such as Force and Motion) is divided into several cycles, each intended to support students' construction of a relevant model or component of a model. In turn, every cycle has three phases: elicitation, development and application.