Simulations you run yourself
Some things you have to see move. Ask DuckyHelper to show you how a pendulum works and you get a small sandbox, not a video: pull the ball, let it go, drag the length slider and watch the period change. Pendulums, projectiles, circuits, sound waves and more, in the Mac pill or on Eddy's desk, with the numbers right there.
Change one thing. Watch what happens.
Say show me how a pendulum works. A sandbox opens with the pendulum, its sliders and its numbers: length, gravity, damping, start angle, the period it swings with. Drag the ball and let go. Make the string longer and it swings slower. Ask for a change, like now try it on the Moon, and Ducky sets it up and explains what you see.
What if the string were four times longer? Try it, then ask why it happened.
Every number on the sandbox updates as you drag, so you can test a rule yourself.
On Eddy's desk, in the Eddy tab.
Eddy opens the same kind of sandbox on its desk. Ask how sound travels and you get the air particles bunching up and spreading out between a speaker and an ear, with sliders for pitch and loudness and buttons for air, water and steel.
Throw it. Swing it. Wire it.
Each sandbox is small on purpose: one idea, a few things to change, and the numbers that show you the rule.
Projectiles
Change how it is thrown and see where it lands.
Pendulums
Length, gravity and start angle against the period.
Circuits
A battery and a resistor, with the current worked out as you change them.
Waves and sound
Pitch, loudness and what the sound travels through.
I = V / R, while you drag.
In a circuit sandbox, change the resistance and watch the current change with it, worked out with I = V / R. A rule you watched happen is easier to remember than one you copied.
Ask to see it. Then run it.
How a simulation lesson goes.
- 1. Ask show me
Show me how a pendulum works, on a Mac or in Eddy.
- 2. A sandbox opens
With the thing itself, its sliders and its numbers.
- 3. Play with it
Drag, slide, let go. Ask what if.
- 4. Ask why
Ducky explains what you saw, and you try the next change.
Learn it by doing it.
Trying something and seeing the result teaches more than reading about it, because you are the one making the prediction. Every simulation in DuckyHelper is a small experiment you run. The learning science behind it: Keep the learner doing, not watching.
How to use it
Frequently asked questions
Can I get an interactive physics simulation explained to me?
Yes. Ask DuckyHelper to show you how a pendulum, a projectile or a circuit works and a small sandbox opens: drag the ball, move the sliders, read the numbers, while Ducky or Eddy explains what you see and asks what you think will happen next.
How does a pendulum simulation help me understand the period?
In the pendulum sandbox, drag the length slider and watch the period: a longer string swings slower. Change gravity, try the Moon, and see it slow down again. You find out what the period depends on, and what it does not, by changing one thing at a time.
Which simulations are there?
Pendulums, projectiles, circuits and sound waves, and more as you ask: Ducky picks a sandbox that fits your question. Each one is small, one idea with a few things to change and the numbers that show the rule.
Do simulations work on a Chromebook?
Not right now: DuckyHelper is a Mac app (macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon). There is no Chromebook or web version. On a Mac, Eddy opens simulations on its desk in the Eddy tab, and they also open in the pill over whatever you are working on.
Are the simulations accurate?
They are small models built to show one rule clearly, like how the length of a string sets a pendulum's period. They are for building your understanding: for a lab, use one to make a prediction, then check it against your own measurements.
More features
Run your first experiment
Press fn on your Mac, or open the Eddy tab, and say show me how a pendulum works.
