Simulation of Electrical Properties | Thomas Sean Weatherby

Use this app

This browser-based simulation supports teaching and learning about simple DC circuits by making electrical quantities visible. It represents electric potential through colour or height and current through arrows, so learners can connect circuit changes with changes in the underlying model.

Physics concept

Electric potential, voltage, current, resistance, and simple series/parallel DC circuits.

Learner difficulty

Learners often treat current as something that is consumed, see voltage as a property of current, or reason locally about components without considering the circuit as a connected system.

Didactic idea

The app foregrounds potential difference as the driver of current. The visualisations give learners non-numeric representations that can be discussed alongside analogies such as pressure differences and flow.

Evidence/status

Research-based and classroom-oriented. The simulation is connected to published work on analogical and representation-based approaches to electricity teaching. (Burde et al., 2021; Weatherby et al., 2020; Weatherby et al., 2021)

References

2021

An analogical simulation for teaching electric circuits: a rationale for use in lower secondary school

Jan-Philipp Burde, Thomas Sean Weatherby, and Arthur Kronenberger

Physics Education, 2021

DOI BibTeX Link PDF

@article{burde2021analogical,
  title = {An analogical simulation for teaching electric circuits: a rationale for use in lower secondary school},
  author = {Burde, Jan-Philipp and Weatherby, Thomas Sean and Kronenberger, Arthur},
  journal = {Physics Education},
  volume = {56},
  number = {5},
  pages = {055010},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {IOP Publishing},
  doi = {10.1088/1361-6552/ac03fe},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6552/ac03fe},
}

Repräsentationsbasierte Simulation zu einfachen Gleichstromkreisen

Thomas Weatherby, Thomas Wilhelm, Jan-Philipp Burde, and 4 more authors

In Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht und Lehrerbildung im Umbruch?, 2021

BibTeX Link PDF

@inproceedings{weatherby2021reprasentationsbasierte,
  title = {Repr{\"a}sentationsbasierte Simulation zu einfachen Gleichstromkreisen},
  author = {Weatherby, Thomas and Wilhelm, Thomas and Burde, Jan-Philipp and Beil, Fabian and Kapp, Sebastian and Kuhn, Jochen and Thees, Michael},
  editor = {Habig, Sebastian},
  booktitle = {Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht und Lehrerbildung im Umbruch?},
  pages = {541--544},
  year = {2021},
  organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Didaktik der Chemie und Physik},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Duisburg-Essen},
  url = {https://gdcp-ev.de/blog/2021/02/11/repraesentationsbasierte-simulation-zu-einfachen-gleichstromkreisen/},
}

2020

Visualisierungen bei Simulationen von einfachen Stromkreisen

Thomas Weatherby, Thomas Wilhelm, Jan-Philipp Burde, and 4 more authors

In Naturwissenschaftliche Kompetenzen in der Gesellschaft von morgen, 2020

BibTeX Link PDF

@inproceedings{weatherby2020visualisierungen,
  title = {Visualisierungen bei Simulationen von einfachen Stromkreisen},
  author = {Weatherby, Thomas and Wilhelm, Thomas and Burde, Jan-Philipp and Beil, Fabian and Kapp, Sebastian and Kuhn, Jochen and Thees, Michael},
  editor = {Habig, Sebastian},
  booktitle = {Naturwissenschaftliche Kompetenzen in der Gesellschaft von morgen},
  pages = {1007--1010},
  year = {2020},
  organization = {Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Didaktik der Chemie und Physik},
  publisher = {Universit{\"a}t Duisburg-Essen},
  url = {https://gdcp-ev.de/blog/2020/01/28/visualisierungen-bei-simulationen-von-einfachen-stromkreisen/},
}