EDUCATIONFORUM

esearch on learning shows that stu-dents learn better when they con-struct their own understanding of scientific ideas within the framework of their existing knowledge (1). To accomplish this process, students must be motivated to actively engage with the content and must be able to learn from that engagement. Inter-active computer simulations can meet both of these needs. A growing body of research analyzes their design and use (2, 3). Here, we summarize some of the research of the Physics Education Tech-nology (PhET) project, particularly that related to simulations and student motivation. We find that an impor-tant element of education-ally effective simulations is that students view these simulations much as sci-entists view their research experiments (3). The sci-entist approaches research as an enjoyable opportunity to explore basic concepts, as well as to challenge, correct, and add to his or her understanding of how the world works. Similarly, the student usually finds exploring the simulations fun and, through this exploration, discovers new ideas about the science. A well-designed simulation focuses the student’s attention on the basic scientific concepts. When some-thing unexpected happens, the student ques-tions her understanding and changes param-eters in the simulation to explore and improve her understanding—approaches similar to those taken by a scientist working with an experiment. This behavior is in contrast to the way students approach hands-on experi-ments typically used in classes. Students often think that their goal with such experi-ments is to reproduce a preordained result as fast as possible, without making a mistake. Many factors of simu-lations contribute to this contrast. Identify-ing these factors is im-portant for effective design and use of educational simulations and could help improve typical in-class experiments. The PhET projec