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SimPop Science Simulations
Episode 179 • 18th March 2024 • Tech Tools for Teachers • Shanna Martin
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Science and math teachers, this one is for you! As spring arrives, it's a great time to try out SimPop, an easy to use simulation tool designed specifically for middle and high school students. This user-friendly program allows you to pop a lot of different simulations into your lessons. 👩‍🔬

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Transcripts

Shanna Martin:

Thanks for listening to the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.

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Where each week we talk about a

free piece or two of technology

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that you can use in your classroom.

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I'm your host, Shanna Martin.

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I'm a middle school teacher, technology,

and instructional coach for my district.

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Fuzz Martin: I'm her producer and

husband Fuzz Martin and I am simply

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hoping that this show becomes popular.

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I am sim popping if you will.

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Yes.

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I shall call him Sim Pop.

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. It's the circle of life.

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Hello?

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Shanna Martin: Hi.

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Episode 179.

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Fuzz Martin: represent.

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Shanna Martin: We are all ready for spring

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Fuzz Martin: spring break.

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Woo woo.

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Shanna Martin: And some people are

already on spring break high fives.

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You, some of you are just like

holding out for spring break.

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Like I am until the end of the week.

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I love teaching and I love being

around my kids, but you know, a

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little break is necessary sometimes.

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So, yeah.

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So some groups are like, some schools

are starting spring break already.

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Some are on spring break and some are

hoping for spring break coming up.

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I know some districts push

it off to like April as well.

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So it's a little bit later in the year.

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Where I'm at, this year

we're ending last week of May.

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So it's a little earlier than

normal, so basically I'll be coming

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back from spring break, and then

I have eight weeks of school left.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, you've got a

short year, because it started

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early, but this show for a little

housekeeping, we'll take a break for

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Shanna Martin: It'll be two

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Fuzz Martin: two weeks

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Shanna Martin: So we'll

start back in April.

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Yeah.

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Because of how spring break

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Fuzz Martin: yeah, spring

break falls that way.

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Plus you don't want to be, you know, like,

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Shanna Martin: Easter Monday is there.

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So we're not going to have a podcast

because on Easter Monday, because

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a lot of people have off for that.

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Fuzz Martin: Exactly.

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So we'll talk to you again in April.

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Well, thank you for listening.

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Oh wait, we still have to do this episode.

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Oh, Hey.

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While you're though on break, if

you're interested, you can follow

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Tech Tools for Teachers on YouTube.

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And, there's, some good content there.

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So go to, go to YouTube and, the

channel is Tech Tools for Teachers at

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Tech Tools for Teachers on YouTube.

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And all these episodes are on there.

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You've got some other walkthrough

videos that you've done in

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the past and things as well.

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So, subscribe, like, give a thumbs

up, smash that subscribe button

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Shanna Martin: Yeah.

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On YouTube.

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Yeah, that one's where, where you

actually get to see, you actually don't

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really see my face either, but I'm

talking and you can see my screen, so

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Fuzz Martin: There you go, yeah, perfect.

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Shanna Martin: Moving up in the world.

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So, oh my gosh.

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So I'm really excited about this week.

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Just because this tool, it's a quick

tool, but a very easy one for science

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and math teachers to build into your

classroom and it, it recommends like

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six, 12, I would say even fifth grade

could probably, depending on what content

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you're teaching, but it is called Sim Pop.

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Sim Pop.

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It's sim pop.

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Sim pop.

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Okay.

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So Sim Pop is a science

simulator and games site.

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Mostly simulators,

which is really awesome.

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And what I like about

it, it's, it's simple.

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It's a Sims simulation site.

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Okay.

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We've used FET science before.

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We've talked about some other simulations.

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This is very straightforward.

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And it's nice because.

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There's not a lot of extras, so

you could easily assign this to

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students, whether you're doing science

or math, because it has content

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that would fit both subject areas.

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And, if you choose

something, so, go to simpop.

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org, so S I M P O P dot org.

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And then there's science simulations

and games, and then there's a list

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of several of them, and once you get

into the topic you're looking at.

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So there's like solar systems,

buoyancy, projectile motion,

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reflection, chemical equations, virtual

microscope, which is pretty cool.

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So you pick one.

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So I'm going to pick balance and torque.

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When you open it up, it's going to tell

you like recommended age levels, but like

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this one says 8th through 12th grade.

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Again, depending on what you're

teaching, you can make it fit.

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And then it gives you masses like

little bricks and you're just

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going to drop them onto the scale.

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What's cool is it gives you like in

kilograms what you're going to see.

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And as you're, you can see the

balance and what that would look like.

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And it gives you the math along with it.

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And then it goes through what it is.

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Like this one goes to like, what is mass?

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What is force?

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What is a lever?

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What is a pivot or a fulcrum?

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Like it goes through like the

basic vocabulary, which I like.

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And then it links to like, to learn

more, watch, and it links right into

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a Khan Academy video that explains

more about the topic that you are

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engaged in, which I think is cool.

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Students can totally navigate

this one on their own.

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You could use it as a part of a

lab, or you could use it as a part

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of like a homework assignment, or

like students can investigate more.

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Which I like about the simulator is

then they can take off the different

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masses and put on new ones and

they could go through and explore.

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the different, obviously simulations

of what would happen and they

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could reflect on that, write

about it and investigate more.

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So you can make an investigation

around it, which is pretty cool.

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Fuzz Martin: Yeah, that's super cool.

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Shanna Martin: And it's again, very

easy to navigate and students could

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easily put this in as an assignment.

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I also think it would be a cool way if

screencast for homework or explain, like

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you need them to practice explaining,

which we talk about this a lot in math

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and science, like explain your thinking.

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With the simulator, if you have

Screencastify or Flip or any of the

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like the screen video creators kids

can Walk you through the simulation so

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they don't have to write a report on

it But they could give you like they

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can literally explain their thinking

Showing you on the video as they

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set the simulation in different ways

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Fuzz Martin: I get you.

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Shanna Martin: Which would be a cool way

for them to explain their thinking You can

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check, like do a knowledge check on it.

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And, it wouldn't have to be

a giant written piece that

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you're looking at either.

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Like they could just show you through

video, which is pretty awesome.

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Fuzz Martin: I'm currently playing

with the projectile motion simulator.

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So you're launching a cannonball and

the, you set the trajectory, so the

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angle that, at which it launches.

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But you can also adjust the

gravity, so it starts at Earth's

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gravity, but you can change it

to each of the different planets.

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And, you can increase the

speed, the meters per second

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the meter per

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that it launches at, and you

can see, you can map at the same

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speed and, you know, uh, angle.

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Of how it affects the different,

or how it's affected on different

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gravities, which would be a great

way for, you know, obviously for

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science, but for, sharing knowledge

and demonstrating how gravity works or

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Shanna Martin: Right!

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Fuzz Martin: How physics works.

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Shanna Martin: Exactly.

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And like, it can be used

in a lot of different ways.

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You can obviously use it in science,

but there's just different ways to

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explain their thinking and show things.

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Another one that I think is really cool

is the virtual microscope, which is a

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little gross, but also cool looking.

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But it will tell you, like,

you can select your slides.

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The following is an injury.

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Here's a blood clot.

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Yum.

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They have like a mouse retina.

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Ooh, they have, like E.

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coli bacteria, they have the small

intestine, they have a dust mite.

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So you can see these different things

under like, like their version of a

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virtual microscope, which is cool.

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And you can drag the image

and look around on the slide.

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So you're not stuck at just like looking

at the one little circle they give you.

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It's not that little, but you can

zoom in and zoom out on the slide.

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Like you would on a regular microscope.

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And then it talks about.

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Different types of microscopes

and what light might look like.

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And again, then talks about the scale of

cells and has a video from Khan Academy

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that links to it, which is pretty cool.

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So what's really nice about this

is like, here's some information.

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You can test it out.

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You can try it out.

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I know when science, you just

take out their microscopes.

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It's always like fun, but

this would be also be.

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an additional investigation or if you have

some kids on the Microsoft and some kids

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on this and they can swap spots, you could

do different like stations throughout

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your classroom if you choose to.

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And then when you choose all these

the different like options you

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have for, the different simulators,

you also then can assign them

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directly into Google Classroom.

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So right there in it, like

here's the electroscope one.

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They give you instructions on

how to function through the site,

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that background information,

and also those links to videos.

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And it also gives you links to

other simulations that might

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go along with that lesson.

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And then they've got all the little icons.

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So you can just click.

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And it'll like share to which Google

Classroom and it will drop it right in

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like an assignment or Like material if

you choose to it also can drop right into

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remind for those of you that use remind So

you can send it home and have parents Know

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what your kids are working on and they

can work on at home with their families.

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It's like, Like follow

up and practice at home.

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They can link directly to facebook

twitter x uh pinterest You can embed

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the code and take the link and drop

that someplace else or email it out.

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So it's really easy to push out

the simulators once you have

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students investigating with them

and using them in the classroom.

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So there's just a lot

of cool things in here.

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And again, it's, it's a simplified

version, so you don't have to spend

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A ton of time figuring it out.

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And then they also have like

science bingo, which is kind of fun.

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So there's, like different scientists,

and you can identify them, and you

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hit start, and you can, like, find

Madam Curie, and you find her picture,

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and you click on it, and then, yay!

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And so, anyway, they got a little

science bingo in there, which is fun.

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And you can choose scientists, inventors,

the solar system, scientific symbols,

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chemical symbols, animals, and birds.

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So they have a bingo game based

on different science related, um,

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information, which is kind of fun.

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So that's in there as

well that you can play.

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Fuzz Martin: Awesome.

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Simpop.

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org.

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Yeah.

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Shanna Martin: So check it

out either before spring break

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while you're on spring break.

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This would be a good one to send

home with kids over spring break

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for a little extra practice.

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So yeah, sim pop, check it out.

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It's fun.

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It's easy.

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It's easy to navigate and you

can learn a lot and have kids

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investigate some cool things to learn

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Fuzz Martin: Do it.

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Get there.

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Shanna Martin: So if you're on

spring break, happy spring break.

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If you're going on spring

break, enjoy your spring break.

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And I'm

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Fuzz Martin: don't get a spring break, If

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Shanna Martin: If you just get an extended

weekend, enjoy your extended weekend,

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because some people have that as well.

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So take a break, whatever it looks like.

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Awesome.

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Well, thanks for tuning in.

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This has been the Tech

Tools for Teachers podcast.

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If you ever have any questions,

you can find me on the app

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formerly known as Twitter.

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Fuzz Martin: X

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Shanna Martin: At smartinwi, or on

Threads, or on Facebook or on YouTube.

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And if you wanna get more information on

the links to the technology discussed on

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this episode, you can visit smartinwi.com.

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If you'd like to support the show,

please consider buying me a coffee or

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two visit buymeacoffee.com/smartinwi

or visit smartinwi.com and click on

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that cute little purple coffee cup.

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Your donations help keep this show going.

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New episode.

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New episodes in two weeks.

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Thanks for listening.

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Go educate and innovate

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Fuzz Martin: The ideas and opinions

expressed on this podcast and the

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smartinwi website are those of the author,

Shanna Martin, and not of her employer.

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Prior to using any of the technologies

discussed on this podcast, please

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consult with your employer regulations.

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This podcast offers no guarantee

that these tools will work for you as

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described, but we sure hope they do.

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And we'll talk to you next time right here

on the Tech Tools for Teachers podcast.

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for joining us today.

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