Remote Learning with Interactive Simulations

Remote learning with interactive simulations fixes the biggest weakness of online science lessons: students watching instead of doing. A video call gives you a screen and a chat box. A simulation link turns that into an experiment every student can run on their own device, at home, with no equipment and no account. This guide covers both kinds of remote lesson. In a live lesson you share your screen, post a link in the chat and run a predict–observe–explain cycle with the whole class. In an asynchronous lesson students work through a task on their own time. You'll get a step-by-step routine for each, two complete examples with the numbers the simulations produce, and the problems to plan for when you can't see anyone's screen.

What changes when students are at home

In a classroom you can walk around, glance at screens and hear which group is stuck. Online, you lose all of that. Plan for four differences:

• You can't see what students are doing. You need a way to see their thinking, not just their faces. A question set on the link does that job.
• Attention drops faster. Ten minutes of watching your shared screen is a long time. Hand control to students early.
• Devices vary. Some students join on a laptop, some on a phone, some on a shared family computer. The simulation runs in the browser on all of them, but a phone screen is small.
• Not everyone is there at the same time. Time zones, shared devices and weak connections mean some students will always do the task later. Every live lesson needs an asynchronous version.

What you need

• A video-call tool that can share your screen and has a chat. Any common one works, because you only use those two features.
• One Simulic share link per class. Students open it in the browser; they don't need an account and student pages set no cookies.
• A question set on the link, so answers come back to you. The free plan collects 100 student answers per month across all your links.
• For asynchronous work, your usual channel: an LMS post, an email to the class or an embed in your course page. The LMS embed guide has the steps for each platform.

A live remote lesson, step by step

This routine takes 25 to 35 minutes and works with any simulation.

Before the lesson

1. Open the simulation, click Share, set the starting values and create a link for the class under New link.
2. On the Questions tab, build a set with one or two prediction questions and two or three questions to answer after the experiment. Put the task in Instructions for students, because nobody will remember what you said on the call.
3. On the link card, click Present. The link opens in a new tab in present mode. Keep that tab ready.

During the lesson

1. Share the present-mode tab. Present mode shows the simulation without the questions, so your screen isn't cluttered with the prediction lock students will see.
2. Show the setup without running it. Name each control and its value. Students can't predict what they don't understand.
3. Post the play link in the chat. Students on a phone can also scan the code from Show QR code straight off their laptop screen.
4. Everyone commits a prediction. Students type a first name or nickname, answer the prediction, and the simulation unlocks. Wait until most have answered. On the Share page, View answers shows who has submitted; reload it to see new rows.
5. Run it on your shared screen once, then tell students to run it on their own devices.
6. Collect the results in the chat. Ask everyone to paste one number. With thirty numbers in the chat, the class sees a pattern no single student could.
7. Discuss, then let them answer the after questions in the set. Read the percentages before you close the call.

Cameras off? It doesn't matter. The prediction and the numbers in the chat show you who is thinking.

Live example: radioactive decay with the whole class's data

This 30-minute lesson suits ages 15–18. It uses the radioactive decay simulation. Red nuclei decay at random into grey ones, and a graph plots the number remaining against the theoretical curve N = N₀·2^(−t/T).

Pin on the link: initial number of nuclei N₀ = 200, half-life T = 4 s, speed 1×, theoretical curve on.

Question set:

1. Prediction, multiple choice, asked again after: "After 12 seconds, how many of the 200 nuclei will be left?" Options: 0 / 25 / 50 / 100. Answer: 25. Twelve seconds is three half-lives: 200 → 100 → 50 → 25. Many students pick 0, thinking that three half-lives "use up" the sample.
2. Number, Range grading: "Drag on the graph to t = 12 s. How many nuclei did your simulation have left?" Accept 16 to 34. Each run is random, and about 96% of runs land in this range.
3. Number: "What is the decay constant λ shown by the simulation?" Answer: 0.173, tolerance ± 0.002, unit s⁻¹ (λ = ln2/T = 0.693/4).
4. Short answer: "Your number at 12 s was probably not exactly 25. Why not?"

Running it:

• Share the present tab and run one decay. Point at the blue mark on the activity bar: at the start it sits at λN = 34.7 decays per second, and it falls as N falls.
• Students run their own copies, read N at 12 s and paste the number in the chat. Expect values from the high teens to the low thirties.
• Ask: "Whose simulation is wrong?" Nobody's. Each nucleus has the same chance of decaying per second, so small samples scatter. The average of the class's numbers lands close to 25, which is the point: half-life describes large numbers of nuclei, not single ones.
• Extension: change T to 8 s in the starting values under the simulation and predict the number left at 12 s. The theory gives about 71, because 12 s is now only one and a half half-lives.

The model answer for question 4: "Decay is random. 25 is what you expect on average; a sample of 200 nuclei scatters around it."

Asynchronous remote lessons

An asynchronous task has to work without you. Students can't ask "which slider?", so the link and the set must answer every question in advance.

• Keep it to 15–25 minutes. Long tasks get abandoned halfway, and you only see half the answers.
• Pin everything. The link opens on the exact screen and values the task assumes.
• Write numbered steps in the instructions. Name buttons the way the simulation names them.
• Use number questions with a tolerance, so students get immediate feedback without you.
• Set a clear end. After the deadline, click Turn off link on the Share page. With Pro you can set a last day on the link instead.
• Follow up within a day. Post the percentage correct for each question and one common wrong answer, with a short explanation.

The homework guide covers task design, deadlines and reading results in detail. If the asynchronous task prepares students for a live lesson, use the structure in the flipped classroom guide: predictions at home, discussion on the call.

Asynchronous example: the bacterial growth curve

This task takes about 20 minutes and suits ages 14–17. It uses the bacterial population growth simulation: a culture flask, a graph of log N against time, and the four phases colored as they happen.

Pin on the link: initial cell number 100, generation time 20 minutes, nutrient 500 units, lag phase 30 minutes, batch culture. At the default speed of 12 simulated minutes per second, the whole curve plays out in under a minute.

Instructions for students: "1. Answer the prediction, then watch the curve without touching anything. 2. Write down the largest number of cells (the label above the flask) and the time when the phase changes to Death. 3. Change Initial nutrient to 1000 in the starting values under the simulation, press Reset and run it again. 4. Press Reset, then the Continuous culture button, and watch what happens."

Question set:

1. Prediction, multiple choice, asked again after: "When the food runs out, the number of bacteria will…" Options: keep growing more slowly / stay the same / fall / start growing again. Answer: fall. The death phase begins once the nutrient is used up.
2. Number: "What is the largest population the flask reaches?" Answer: 0.49, tolerance ± 0.02, unit million cells.
3. Number: "At about what time does the death phase begin?" Answer: 296, tolerance ± 10, unit min.
4. Multiple choice: "With 1,000 units of nutrient, the largest population is…" Options: about the same / about twice as large / about ten times as large. Answer: about twice as large (about 0.98 million). In this model, each unit of nutrient feeds 1,000 cells.
5. Short answer: "In continuous culture, what happened to the death phase, and why?" Model answer: "It disappeared. Fresh nutrient keeps flowing in and broth is drained, so the population levels off just under half a million cells instead of dying."

Follow-up post the next day: show the percentage for question 1 before and after. Most classes move from "stay the same" to "fall". Then ask one question to discuss in the next live lesson: "Why does the graph use log N instead of N?"

Hybrid lessons: some in the room, some at home

When part of the class is in the room and part is on the call, run one lesson for both. Project the present-mode tab in the room and share the same tab on the call. Students in the room scan the QR code; students at home use the link in the chat. Both groups open the same link, so their answers land in one results table and you discuss one set of numbers.

Give the remote students a job that keeps them visible, such as reading the first values aloud or pasting the class's numbers into a shared table. Otherwise the room takes over and the call goes quiet.

Make remote lessons fair for every student

• Phones are fine for most simulations. A plain play link opens full screen on any device. Tasks with long written answers are easier on a laptop, so keep those for students who have one.
• No accounts, no installs. Students open a link and type a nickname. Nothing to download, no password to reset, and no email addresses collected.
• Collect nothing personal. Ask for a first name or nickname only. A convention like "first name + initial" lets you match answers to your list.
• Plan for students who miss the call. Keep the live link open until the end of the day, so absent students can do the same task asynchronously with the same questions. Use Duplicate if you want their answers in a separate table.
• Language support. Each link pins a language, so a second link in a student's home language can use the same question set.

Mistakes that sink a remote simulation lesson

• Sharing your whole desktop. Share only the present-mode tab, not the Share page or your email.
• Reading instructions aloud. They're forgotten in a minute. Put them in the instructions box and in the chat.
• Running everything yourself. If students only watch your screen, a video would do the same job. Get the link into the chat in the first ten minutes.
• No way to see thinking. Without a question set or chat numbers, you won't know who understood until the next test.
• Tasks that need you. If an asynchronous task generates questions you'd normally answer on the spot, the instructions aren't finished yet.

For more ways to use simulations in any lesson, see how to use interactive simulations in the classroom.

FAQ

Can I use simulations in Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams calls?

Yes. Share your screen with the simulation in present mode, and paste the play link in the chat so students can open it themselves. You don't need anything else from the video-call tool.

Do students need to install anything or create an account?

No. The simulations run in the browser on phones, tablets, Chromebooks and laptops. Students open the link and type a nickname only if the link has questions.

How do I see students' answers during a live lesson?

Open the Share page and click View answers on the class link. Reload it to see new answers as they arrive.

Do simulations work without an internet connection?

No. Students need to be online to open the link and to send their answers.

Should remote lessons be live or asynchronous?

Both. Use live lessons for predictions and discussion, and give every live lesson an asynchronous version for students who couldn't join.