Using physics simulation environment for better students' performance

In the past we were witnessed the drop of interest for studying physics. Many reasons for that were identified and improved but some are still present. To understand physics students need huge mathematical knowledge that is beyond their abilities in primary and secondary schools. Physics experiments are real physics but the measurements generally differ from the physics equations in primary and secondary education. Many things have to be over-simplified from the real world experiment for students to solve the problem analytically by using math equations. In the past years, we used simulations for examining physics phenomena that were able to hide complex mathematics and show the same behaviour like physics experiments. However, with the drop of support of Java applets all those applets become obsolete. We are now facing dilemma, do we need to recreate simulations or use simulation environment and use the process of creation of simulations as learning tool. With the case study method, we have tested one example of free physics simulation environment Algodoo to see which group of students is the best for such approach. This didactical approach is not suitable for all students but it has important benefits for the others.