Free Science Education Software





Introduction
This document focuses on science education software. In some cases the software is available free for online use, but a fee is charged for downloading a copy to one's personal computer.

A 6/27/2016 Google search of the expression free science software produced about 221 million results. That is, of course, an overwhelming and not particularly useful number.

To get a feeling for the breadth of materials available, see Wikipedia Category: Free Science Software. Likely you will be overwhelmed by the lists given there.

Some Basics
Use of computers in gathering and processing data, and use of computerized instrumentation are now routine in all areas of science. Thus, we will focus this short IAE-pedia entry on general types of software that tend to be used in many different sciences.

In terms of education, it is now common to refer to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) areas of study. Students can begin learning about each of the STEM areas even at the kindergarten level of their formal schooling, and such studies may continue to a doctorate and then post-doctorate level.

For example, math is an important tool in all of the STEM areas. Moreover, math is important in many non-STEM areas of study. Here are two fundamental questions:


 * 1) What math do we want all K-12 students to learn?
 * 2) What computer hardware and software do we want students to routinely use as an aid to learning and "doing" math to solve problems in the STEM and other areas of study?

These are not easy questions. For example, what do we want students to learn about handheld calculators? This was a difficult question more than 40 years ago when 4-function and 6-function calculators became inexpensive enough so that schools could readily provide every student with such a tool. Most students now have access to a a 6-function calculator that has a Square Root key. As a consequence, the teaching of "by-hand" methods for calculating square roots has mostly disappeared from the math education curriculum.

The question became more difficult as handheld calculators improved to the level of being nearly "full blown" computers, able to solve a very wide range of math problems. For example, such calculators can draw graphs of mathematical functions and can solve a variety of types of math equations.

Nowadays, it is increasingly common to require use of such powerful calculators in some high school math and other STEM courses, and quite common to require their use in college STEM courses.

Hardware and Software
A handheld calculator consists of a combination of hardware (physical components) and software (computer programs.) The initial cost of developing the software may be large, but if it is used in millions of hardware devices the cost added to each instrument is small.

Moreover, software development may well be paid for by government grants, contributions from philanthropic organizations, and/or the developers. Over the years a huge amount of computer software has been developed and made available free on the Web.

By and large, non-free versions of such software are commercially available. So, when an individual or school system is thinking about acquiring computer facilities, thought must be given as to what software will be needed and its cost.

As an example, Wolfram is a company that has developed and sells a relatively expensive and very powerful software product named Mathematica. It also provides free on the Web a limited version of this software named Wolfram Alpha. The following screen shot is from the home page of Wolfram Alpha. It provides information about a wide range of applications of this free software.



This software is designed to accept questions in the language of mathematics, and also questions in "natural" language. It is designed both as an aid to learning and an aid to answering questions/solving problems.

For example, when I asked Wolfram Alpha, "What is pi?" I received answer that included the figure below. Try Wolfram Alpha—you'll like it!



The remainder of this document contains a few examples of free science and science education software.

The Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium is an excellent source of free, open-source, high-quality STEM software. Quoting from the website:


 * Our STEM Resource Finder features some of the best of our free, open source educational activities, models and software tools. You can search by keyword or filter by subject, grade level and type to find the right resources for your learning goals.


 * [Our Molecular Workbench] is not just a collection of simulations—do not be deceived by first glance. While it presents many existing simulations that are ready to use in the classroom, it is, however, also a modeling tool for teachers and students to create their own simulations and share them with collaborators. There are very sophisticated modeling capacities hidden behind its simple user interface that empower you to create new simulations and even explore the unknowns. (Because of the experimental and computational nature of this kind of simulations, we prefer to call them computational experiments.)

Here is a screenshot from their home page:



Notice that the Concord materials span a wide range of educational levels and several of the STEM areas. Here is a screenshot giving brief descriptions of three of their powerful tools:



Educational Freeware
Educational Freeware provides reviews of free learning games, software, and websites. Quoting from the website:


 * Science can be fun! Download the best freeware and visit the top free websites for learning science, astronomy, chemistry, maths and physics - mostly for kids, but also for grown-ups.

Here is a screenshot of a small part of their homepage on 6/26/2016:



MIT Software Tools for Academics and Researchers
The STAR program at MIT seeks to bridge the divide between scientific research and the classroom. Quoting from the website:


 * Understanding and applying research methods in the classroom setting can be challenging due to time constraints and the need for advanced equipment and facilities. The multidisciplinary STAR team collaborates with faculty from MIT and other educational institutions to design software exploring core scientific research concepts. The goal of STAR is to develop innovative and intuitive teaching tools for classroom use.


 * All of the STAR educational tools are freely available. To complement our educational software, the STAR website contains curriculum components/modules which can facilitate the use of STAR educational tools in a variety of educational settings. Students, teachers, and professors should feel welcome to download software and curriculum modules for their own use. We welcome your comments and feedback as you explore these educational tools.

This screenshot describes some of the free software provided by the MIT STAR program.



Lists of Free Online Resources 
Moursund, D. (2016). Fair use. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 7/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Fair_Use.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free educational videos. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Educational_Videos.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free IAE math education materials. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_IAE_Math_Education_Materials.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free math education videos. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 7/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Math_Education_Videos.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free math software. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Math_Software.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free open content libraries. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 6/27/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Open_Content_Libraries.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free open source and open content educational materials. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Open_Source_and_Open_Content_Educational_Materials.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free open source online databases. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Open_Source_Online_Databases.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free open source software packages. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Open_Source_Software_Packages.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free science education software. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Science_Education_Software.

Moursund, D. (2016). Free science education videos. IAE-pedia. Retrieved 8/17/2016 from http://iae-pedia.org/Free_Science_Education_Videos.

Popular Free Online IAE Books 

 * Moursund, D. (February, 2016). Math Methods for Preservice Teachers. Eugene, OR: Information Age Education. PDF file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/283-math-methods-for-preservice-elementary-teacher-1/file.html. Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/282-math-methods-for-preservice-elementary-teacher/file.html. HTML file: http://iae-pedia.org/Math_Methods_for_Preservice_Elementary_Teachers.


 * Moursund, D. (August, 2015). Brain Science for Educators and Parents. PDF file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/271-brain-science-for-educators-and-parents-1/file.html. Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/270-brain-science-for-educators-and-parents/file.html. HTML file: http://iae-pedia.org/Brain_Science.


 * Moursund, D. (2/28/2015). Technology and Problem Solving in PreK-12 Education for Adult Life, Careers, and Further Education. PDF file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/267-technology-and-problem-solving-in-prek-12-education-1.html. Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/free-ebooks-by-dave-moursund/266-technology-and-problem-solving-in-prek-12-education.html. HTML file: http://iae-pedia.org/Technology_and_Problem_Solving.


 * Sylwester, R., and Moursund, D., eds. (2012). Creating an Appropriate 21st Century Education. Eugene, OR: Information Age Education. PDF file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/243-creating-an-appropriate-21st-century-education.html. Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/242-creating-an-appropriate-21st-century-education.html.


 * Moursund, D., and Albrecht, R. (2011). Using Math Games and Word Problems to Increase Math Maturity. Eugene, OR: Information Age Education. PDF file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/211-using-math-games-and-word-problems-to-increase-the-math-maturity-of-k-8-students.html. Microsoft Word file: http://i-a-e.org/downloads/doc_download/210-using-math-games-and-word-problems-to-increase-the-math-maturity-of-k-8-students.html.

All Free Online IAE Books 

 * Free Books by Dave Moursund.
 * Free Books by Bob Albrecht.
 * Free Books Co-authored by Bob Sylwester & Dave Moursund.

Moursund's Collections of Quotations 

 * Math Education Quotations.


 * Quotations Collected by David Moursund.

Digital Filing Cabinets 

 * Digital Filing Cabinet: Overview.


 * Digital Filing Cabinet: Math Education.

Author
The original version of this page was created by David Moursund and edited by Ann Lathrop.