Look inside a resistor to see how it works. Increase the battery voltage to make more electrons flow though the resistor. Increase the resistance to block the flow of electrons. Watch the current and resistor temperature change.

This new version of the CCK adds capacitors, inductors and AC voltage sources to your toolbox! Now you can graph the current and voltage as a function of time.

An electronics kit in your computer! Build circuits with resistors, light bulbs, batteries, and switches. Take measurements with the realistic ammeter and voltmeter. View the circuit as a schematic diagram, or switch to a life-like view.

Three in-class lecture demonstration questions to test and build understanding of DC circuits are presented. These questions cover simple series and parallel circuits, and a more complicated circuit that is fundamental for understanding this topic.

This 90-minute activity features six interactive molecular models to explore the relationships among voltage, current, and resistance. Students start at the atomic level to explore how voltage and resistance affect the flow of electrons. Next, they use a model to investigate how temperature can affect conductivity and resistivity. Finally, they explore how electricity can be converted to other forms of energy. The activity was developed for introductory physics courses, but the first half could be appropriate for physical science and Physics First. The formula for Ohm's Law is introduced, but calculations are not required. This item is part of the Concord Consortium, a nonprofit research and development organization dedicated to transforming education through technology. The Concord Consortium develops deeply digital learning innovations for science, mathematics, and engineering.

This activity describes the construction and use of a pneumatic cannon and free falling target used to teach the concepts of projectile motion in introductory physics.

This website consists of a series of 3D simulations on engineering technology topics. Developed by and for the Eastern Iowa Community Colleges' Engineering Technology programs, these simulations, which are approximately 2-9 minutes long, are used as part of their curriculum to help students quickly and thoroughly grasp the concepts being presented in a visual format. Some simulations are paired with additional interactive quiz questions and can be downloaded as .zip files.
Topics covered include: AC Circuits, DC Circuits, Digital Currents & Systems, Electrical Motor Control, Fluid Power Control, Fluid Power Design & Application, Fluid Power Fundamentals, Industrial Print Reading (Engineering Design), Industrial Robotics, Lean Manufacturing, Microcontrollers, Motion Control, Process Control, Programmable Logic Controllers, and Solid Stats & Systems.
This workforce solution is funded by the Pathways to Engineering Technology Careers grant which is 100% financed through a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration.

This module covers fundamental DC circuit principles to help post-secondary electrical engineering technology students understand basic concepts and perform limited circuit analysis. 

Discover how electricity can be converted into other forms of energy such as light and heat. Connect resistors and holiday light bulbs to simple circuits and monitor the temperature over time. Investigate the differences in temperature between the circuit with the resistor and the circuit using the bulb.

These exercises target student misconceptions about how to properly measure voltage and current in simple DC circuits by letting them investigate different meter arrangements without fear of damaging equipment. These activities also are designed to lead to other investigations about simple DC circuits.

See how the equation form of Ohm's law relates to a simple circuit. Adjust the voltage and resistance, and see the current change according to Ohm's law. The sizes of the symbols in the equation change to match the circuit diagram.

Labs and tutorials that use equipment such as circuits can be modified to use PhET simulations instead. Research shows that substituting the PhET Circuit Construction Kit simulation for real equipment in a variety of contexts leads to improved conceptual learning in the best cases, and the same conceptual learning in the worst cases. There are many advantages to using PhET simulations over real equipment: They are easy to use, so students can play around and modify the experiment quickly and easily without fear of breaking the equipment. They have productive constraints to focus attention on the most important aspects of the experiment (e.g. bulb brightness and current flow) rather than on irrelevant aspects (e.g. wire color and length). Finally, if real equipment is not available, PhET simulations provide the opportunity to do multiple experiments with a single piece of equipment: a computer.