Phun

Sitting on the couch this Saturday morning with my son beside me scanning through my Google Reader. He makes me back up to a YouTube video embedded in a post that I had skimmed by and it turns out to be an amazing resource: Phun.

Developed as a Master of Science Theses by Computing Science student Emil Ernerfeldt in Sweden, Phun is a 2 - D physics modeling engine.

There are countless possibilities for using this tool. A free download, teachers can use it to set up models of physics concepts such as force and gravity. Students can use it to model movement. Creatures and machines could be created.

This is an area of edtech that we don't explore very much. Tools like Lego Mindstorms and MIT's Scratch teach kids whole other ideas about technology. Simple programming skills, cause and effect, creativity, concepts of physics, and how technology is embedded in our lives in almost every space we occupy.

Tags: phun, mindstorms, scratch

Comments

[Lisa Parisi]

Thanks for sharing. This is a fabulous tool. I can't wait to try it!

[Chris Betcher]

Wow. Just wow.

thanks for sharing Clarence!

Wow again...

[vejraska]

Isn't this a great one? I ran across it while cruising around delicious yesterday, and downloaded it. My 8 year old son has since spent several hours creating, asking questions. Even my husband came home last night and messed with it for awhile. Usually when I show him things he says "that's nice honey" :) Hmmmm...now to decide how I can use this in my classroom.

[Melanie Holtsman]

Cool tool. I just sent the link to our school science coaches. Thanks for sharing!

[Dennis Richards]

Clarence,

I reference this post, Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation, and the Thin Walls project video on my blog: How does learning occur in an Educational InterNetwork? http://tinyurl.com/2qmg5w

Thanks for the inspiration!

Dennis