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

May 17 Spring Released During Circular Motion JS Model
Apr 17 Relativistic and Newtonian Oscillator Comparison Model
Jan 11 Converting Legacy Apps to JavaScript
Jan 3 Three Region Markov Process JS Model

Recently Updated Materials

May 1 Acoustics supplement
May 1 Electronics supplement
May 1 Collision Energy Transfer Video supplement
Apr 30 Tracking the Coriolis Force

Recent Discussions

May 06 - 11:29 AM EST
Douglas Brown posted Tracker 6.1.3 now… to the Tracker 6.1.3… thread.

May 03 - 7:15 AM EST
Louis Louw posted 3d Trajectories… to the Obtaining the 3D… thread.


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