APS Excellence in Physics Education Award
November 2019

Education Prize Logo
Science SPORE Prize
November 2011

NSF Logo
The Open Source Physics Project is supported by NSF DUE-0442581.

Computational Resources for Teaching

The OSP Collection provides curriculum resources that engage students in physics, computation, and computer modeling. Computational physics and computer modeling provide students with new ways to understand, describe, explain, and predict physical phenomena. Browse the OSP simulations or learn more about our tools and curriculum pieces below.

Tracker

The Tracker tool extends traditional video analysis by enabling users to create particle models based on Newton's laws. Because models synchronize with and draw themselves right on videos of real-world objects, students can test models experimentally by direct visual inspection.

Learn more about Tracker

Curriculum Packages

OSP curriculum packages combine computer simulations with tutorial materials and student worksheets. Packages can be modified to meet the needs of faculty and students

Browse curriculum resources by topic and learn how to customize packages

EJS Modeling

Student modeling, the guided exploration of physical systems and concepts, is a powerful approach to engaged learning. Easy Java Simulations provides the computational tools for students and faculty to explore physics without the need for learning details of java programming.

Learn more about EJS

Programming

Open Source Physics provides extensive resources for computational physics and physics simulations. Included are:

  • An Eclipse environment for OSP
  • OSP Source Code Libraries
  • OSP best practices
  • Documentation

Access programming resources

Tools

OSP provides several general applications for physics teaching, student activities, and curriculum distribution. These are:

OSP News

Tracker Online
A JavaScript version of Tracker version 6 that runs on all platorms, including Chromebooks, is now available.

News archive

Newest OSP Materials

Jan 11 Converting Legacy Apps to JavaScript
Jan 3 Three Region Markov Process JS Model
Nov 15 Tracker analysis of a block sliding on a rough incline plane.
Nov 13 Tracker analysis of a ball launched horizontally into a cart.

Recently Updated Materials

Mar 19 Sinusoidal Waves II supplement
Mar 19 Adding Sinusoidal Waves supplement
Mar 2 Badminton Projectile Motion: Modeling Air Resistance
Feb 24 Shuttlecock video supplement

Recent Discussions

Mar 27 - 4:24 PM EST
Douglas Brown posted Re: Data Export… to the Data export issue… thread.

Mar 27 - 12:41 PM EST
Douglas Brown posted Re: Imported Video… to the Imported video… thread.

Mar 24 - 5:47 AM EST
Vratislav Pechanec posted Re: Tracker could… to the Tracker could not… thread.

Mar 22 - 12:39 PM EST
Eduardo Nobre posted Re: Tracker 6.1.2… to the Tracker 6.1.2… thread.


OSP Projects:
Open Source Physics - EJS Modeling
Tracker
Physlet Physics
Physlet Quantum Physics
STP Book