This paper presents interactive power electronics educational tools. These interactive tools make use of the benefits of Java language to provide a dynamic and interactive approach to simulating steady-state ideal rectifiers (uncontrolled and controlled; single-phase and three-phase). Additionally, this paper discusses the development and use of Java applet programs to assist the teaching of conventional power electronics rectifier circuits and to serve as a first design tool for basic laboratory experiments in power electronics courses. Comparison was made among results obtained using a well-known simulator package, experimental results, and the developed interactive simulation applets in order to validate the latter. (Contains 12 figures and 3 tables.)