Science Practical Simulator

What is Science Practical Simulator App

Science Practical Simulator is an educational app that allows students to complete practical activities in a safe and engaging way. Science Practical Simulator provides students with simulations and imagery of key experiments with step-by-step instructions and enables users to practice recording and manipulating data. This app will encourage students to write detailed experimental methods, identify key equipment and understand experimental calculations and their importance. The app is truly enjoyable and could be used as an alternative to completing physical practical experiments in a laboratory or as part of a student’s revision programme.

This app is beneficial to all users; Teachers can display practical activity simulations whilst posing questions and highlighting key skills to maximise student progress, whilst students themselves can complete experiments to further their understanding of the key steps involved, revise content or hone their recall skills.

Science Practical Simulator covers the key Science practicals that are assessed by most exam boards and could be instrumental in consolidating the information covered in this area of the science curriculum. Completing experiments using this app encourages individuals to follow instructions, identify key equipment, record data and create detailed methods. The ability to screenshot data sets and results tables allows students to collaborate and analyse data, which is a difficult skill to master, and one that now plays a large part in nationally recognised assessments. Formative assessment tasks at the end of completed activities assess understanding, and the in-app tracking of completed tasks helps students visualise their progress.

With the current curriculum focus on student practical skills in education this app could be truly instrumental in securing a student’s ability to comprehend the importance of practical results and secure their understanding of the steps involved, fully appreciating the significance of a detailed, sequenced method. This app will develop a variety of skills including literacy, numeracy, sequencing, observation, and critical thinking.

What we love about Science Practical Simulator:

Science Practical Simulator is an app that electronically mimics key science practicals for students to complete on screen, with a focus on key concepts, identification of equipment, recording of data and correct methodology. The app benefits from clear imagery and text and importantly promotes diversity within its visuals. Completing science practical experiments using a device allows students to consolidate their learning of historical in person experiments, complete unfamiliar experiments, revise key steps and assess their understanding. Having access to curriculum identified practical activities from a device allows completion to occur anywhere – especially important during this time of blended learning and remote education, or for individuals unable to attend school. Students are able to benefit from the online simulations irrespective of if they are learning in a fully equipped school laboratory, this also eliminates the need for extensive risk assessments supporting staff with workload and ensuring students are safe.

What age is it appropriate for:

Science Practical Simulator is suitable for students of 11-16, with a clear curriculum link to the key GCSE required practical experiments expected of most exam boards. The app is free to download and amazingly has opportunities to personalise the display for users with specific learning needs such as dyslexia or visual impairments. 

What skills does it improve:

Science Practical Simulator develops student’s literacy skills and their ability to identify, write and rearrange key steps of a method. Observation skills, following instructions, recall and critical thinking skills are all improved using this app. Numeracy skills such as recording and identifying data feature heavily on this app which will help promote a student’s math in science skills.

Is Science Practical Simulator easy to use:

Science Practical Simulator is incredibly easy to use and progression through the app is seamless. Selection of the Science you wish to focus on; Biology, Chemistry or Physics, takes you to a list of the practical experiments available. Completion of the experiments is stress-free due to the clear and helpful instructions. Notably one of the unique aspects of the app is the ability to change the background colour to fully support students with specific learning needs and the ability to zoom in on text to support the visually impaired or those with lower literacy abilities. Being able to highlight unfamiliar equipment encourages recall skills for students and makes use of dual coding principles. The website is easy to follow with key instructions given and the ability to contact the developers directly or via their social media accounts.

How will students benefit:

Science Practical Simulator is beneficial to students in numerous ways. Initially it can be used as part of preliminary work to identify how experiments should be carried before taking on the physical practical in a laboratory. It also encourages correct identification and sequencing of steps in methods and clearly shows how data should be collected for analysis. This will be incredible as a revision tool as students need to be able to structure method answers to gain vital marks in assessments.

Students can complete the experiments that are highlighted as part of the school’s curriculum and ensure that they are confident in completing all required steps, identifying equipment, manipulating data and completing calculations. Formative assessment tasks are available on completion of the practical activities and this ensures that students have made the expected progress. All practical activities can be repeated as part of a revision exercise and the app tracks the experiments that have been completed as clear evidence of classwork or homework. Students are able to screen shot data tables to further evidence their completion, this is useful as these can then be shared with their teachers, within study groups or for paired activities for further analysis either verbally or onto hard copies outside of the device. Students can personalise the display of the background to ensure they are benefitting as much as possible visually. Dual coding principles promote a student’s recall skills and the pairing of imagery, text and highlight options favours this process.  The information provided throughout each experiment is extensive and allows users to fully achieve the best learning experience using the app and finesse their understanding of the importance of practical skills. This app develops student’s literacy skills and their ability to identify, write and rearrange the key steps of a method. Numeracy skills such as recording and identifying data feature heavily on this app which will help promote a student’s math in science skills.

How will teachers benefit:

Science Practical Simulator allows teachers to utilise the experiments that are specific to their own curriculum and demonstrate these activities clearly via their device. Demonstration of simulations on screen ensures that all students can see the steps involved; the teacher can also pause and discuss points as needed without hindering the experiment results or posing a health and safety risk. Teachers are able to use the app to safely highlight the importance of students honing their practical skills including identifying equipment and steps in a method, taking observation notes, describing trends and patterns in graphs and health and safety considerations. Teachers can pose questions effectively without the distraction of poorly performed practical activities, health and safety limitations or timing constraints. The reordering tasks at the end of each practical allows teachers to assess understanding. The ability to successfully complete an experiment without the need for physical practical lightens staff workload as the need for risk assessments, equipment ordering, and lengthy lesson time requirements is minimised. Use of the app will allow teachers to successfully track completion of practical activities per student which is a requirement for some exam boards.

How will parents benefit:

Parents can identify the activities their child has completed easily as the app keeps track of this. The app is so incredibly user friendly that parents can support their child in completing practical’s even if they do not have a scientific background. This supports collaborative learning and encourage student completion. 

Science Practical Simulator can improve on:

Science Practical Simulator could add a collaboration option for paired work on separate devices or for use with groups of students.  It has the opportunity to extend its current practical experiment provision beyond GCSE levels.

How much does Science Practical Simulator cost:

The app is free to download and easy to navigate with clear imagery. The app has the option to unlock all available practical activities for 0.99p on a single device, or is just £50 for institution access that allows access to unlimited users.

Is Science Practical Simulator safe to use:

Yes – no personal data is required to benefit from this app.

Overall rating of the app:

The app is deserving of four stars, it is specific to most Science curriculums and covers all key points to ensure students are successful in this field. It has the ability to be extended further by addition of more experiments, beyond its current level. I found the app thoroughly enjoyable to use and appropriate for its target audience.

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