Integrating Information Technology and Science Education for the Future: A Theoretical Review on the Educational Use of Interactive Simulations (original) (raw)
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ABSTRACT Secondary school science teachers have a wide variety of teaching approaches available to them as they support the development of their students’ scientific literacy and knowledge of, and about, science. Information technologies, on computers and other devices, offer potentially valuable ways to supplement this ‘toolkit’ of teaching approaches. This paper critically surveys the research literature exploring the ways in which teachers are using computer-based interactive simulations to enhance their students’ scientific literacy and enable students to meet science learning goals. A variety of issues arise from this survey of the literature, and an approach to characterizing the purposes and outcomes of the use of interactive simulations is outlined. Fields in which future research is likely to be fruitful are also discussed.
Learning with Web Tools, Simulations, and Other Technologies in Science Classrooms
This position paper proposes the enhancement of teacher and student learning in science classrooms by tapping the enormous potential of information communication and technologies (ICTs) as cognitive tools for engaging students in scientific inquiry. This paper serves to challenge teacher-held assumptions about students learning science ‘from technology’ with a framework and examples of students learning science ‘with technology’. Whereas a high percentage of students are finding their way in using ICTs outside of school, for the most part they currently are not doing so inside of school in ways that they find meaningful and relevant to their lives. Instead, the pedagogical approaches that are most often experienced are out-of-step with how students use ICTs outside of schools and are not supportive of learning framed by constructivism. Here we describe a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for better connecting the two worlds of students’ lives: life in school and life outside of...
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The use of interactive computer simulations in improving the teaching and learning of physical science is considered. The importance of interactive computer simulations is the ease of being recycled and hence its sustainability. It can be reworked, retried and used by the learners. The simulations are simple computer programmes that are able to move or represent difficult concepts, ideas or representations. The research in this case was to compare Interactive Computer Simulations with the traditional talk and chalk. The background to this research is the difficult faced by learners in doing experiments in school using traditional equipment. An alternative is looked at in this research – the use of interactive computer simulations. Use of these simulations could be easier for the educators and learners. The experimental design is quasi-experimental, using intact non equivalent group design. The research design is a switching replications design whereby the treatment and control group...
Grade 10 Learners’ Science Conceptual Development Using Computer Simulations
EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2019
This study explored Grade 10 learners' science conceptual development when conducting practical work using Computer Simulations (CS) and compared achievements with those from Traditional-Chalk-and-Talk (TCT). A pre-and post-quasiexperimental research design was used. 53 learners were assigned to the Experimental Group (EG) and 52 to the Control Group (CG). The EG was taught using CS, while CG used TCT. Interviews were used to identify learners' experiences after interventions. The overall results show that learners in EG enjoyed science and developed conceptual understanding better than those in the CG (T-test, p < 0.05), (ANCOVA, p < 0.01). The achievements of girls (M=54.60, SD=10.93) and boys (M=54.39, SD=7.90) in EG after intervention were not significantly different t (51) =-0.08, (p < 0.05). Despite the high learner-to-computer ratio environment, these results compare well with those of low learner-to-computer ratio and this is good news to developing countries where there are limited resources.
Science & Education, 2014
Computers and simulations represent an undeniable aspect of daily scientific life, the use of simulations being comparable to the introduction of the microscope and the telescope, in the development of knowledge. In science education, simulations have been proposed for over three decades as useful tools to improve the conceptual understanding of students and the development of scientific capabilities. However, various epistemological aspects that relate to simulations have received little attention. Although the absence of this discussion is due to various factors, among which the relatively recent interest in the analysis of longstanding epistemological questions concerning the use of simulations, the inclusion of this discussion on the research agenda in science education appears relevant, if we wish to educate scientifically literate students in a vision of the nature of science closer to the work conducted by researchers today. In this paper we review some contemporary thoughts emerging from philosophy of science about simulations in science and set out questions that we consider of relevance for discussion in science education, in particular related with model-based learning and experimental work.
Exploring learners’ conceptual development using computer simulation in a Grade 10 Science class
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One of the effective ways of teaching science is by developing the thinking abilities of individuals by allowing them to engage in enquiry-based learning. Computer simulation (CS) can help improve understanding of scientific concepts and enhance conceptual development and performance. This study focused on exploring learners' conceptual development using CS in Grade 10 science class. A pre-and post-test research designs were used. 105 Grade 10 learners participated: 53 from one whole class were assigned to an Experimental Group (EG) and 52 from another class to a Control Group (CG). The EG was taught using CS while the CG was taught using the traditional approach. Data on learners' performance were collected using a performance test and interviews were employed to collect data on learners' attitudes towards science. The results revealed that the EG performed better than the CG (ttest, p < 0.05), (ANCOVA, p < 0.01). Girls in the EG performed better than girls from iii DEDICATION This study is dedicated to my wife Tshidi, my daughter Mashau and my son, Seshudu for their continued and undying love, support and understanding. Without this lovely family none of this could have been realised. v 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Simulations for Supporting and Assessing Science Literacy
Handbook of Research on Technology Tools for Real-World Skill Development, 2016
Simulations have become core supports for learning in the digital age. For example, economists, mathematicians, and scientists employ simulations to model complex phenomena. Learners, too, are increasingly able to take advantage of simulations to understand complex systems. Simulations can display phenomena that are too large or small, fast or slow, or dangerous for direct classroom investigations. The affordances of simulations extend students' opportunities to engage in deep, extended problem solving. National and international studies are providing evidence that technologies are enriching curricula, tailoring learning environments, embedding assessment, and providing tools to connect students, teachers, and experts locally and globally. This chapter describes a portfolio of research and development that has examined and documented the roles that simulations can play in assessing and promoting learning, and has developed and validated sets of simulation-based assessments and instructional supplements designed for formative and summative assessment and customized instruction. INTRODUCTION Digital and networking technologies permeate school, work, personal, and civic activities. They are central, transformative tools for addressing goals and challenges in all walks of life. Conceptualizations of 21 st century skills and new literacies go beyond traditional views of academic, disciplinary learning to emphasize the need to take advantage of the affordances of technologies to foster application of domain knowledge and competencies in real-world contexts, goals, and problems. Research in cognitive science about how people learn has long documented the importance of transferable knowledge and skills and how learning situated in one context must be explicitly
Education Sciences , 2019
Science educators have begun to explore how students have opportunities to not only view and manipulate simulations, but also to analyze the complex sources of data they generate. While scholars have documented the characteristics and the effects of using simulations as a source of data in face-to-face, K-12 classrooms, how simulations can be taken up and used in such a way in fully-online classes is less-explored. In this study, we present results from our initial qualitative investigation of students' use of a simulation in such a way across three lessons in an online, Advanced Placement high school physics class. In all, 13 students participated in the use of a computational science simulation that we adapted to output quantitative data across the lesson sequence. Students used the simulation and developed a class data set, which students then used to understand, interpret, and model a thermodynamics-related concept and phenomenon. We explored the progression of students' conceptual understanding across the three lessons, students' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the simulation, and how students balanced explaining variability and being able to interpret their model of the class data set. Responses to embedded assessment questions indicated that a few developed more sophisticated conceptual understanding of the particle nature of matter and how it relates to diffusion, while others began the lesson sequence with an already-sophisticated understanding, and a few did not demonstrate changes in their understanding. Students reported that the simulation helped to make a complex idea more accessible and useful and that the data generated by the simulation made it easier to understand what the simulation was representing. When analyzing the class data set, some students focused on fitting the data, not considering the interpretability of the model as much, whereas other students balanced model fit with interpretability and usefulness. In all, findings suggest that the lesson sequence had educational value, but that modifications to the design of the simulation and lesson sequence and to the technologies used could enhance its impact. Implications and recommendations for future research focus on the potential for simulations to be used to engage students in a variety of scientific and engineering practices in online science classes.
Reconsidering simulations in science education at a distance: features of effective use
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2007
Abstract This paper proposes a reconsideration of use of computer simulations in science education. We discuss three studies of the use of science simulations for undergraduate distance learning students. The first one, The Driven Pendulum simulation is a computer-based experiment on the behaviour of a pendulum. The second simulation, Evolve is concerned with natural selection in a hypothetical species of a flowering plant. The third simulation, The Double Slit Experiment deals with electron diffraction and students are provided with an experimental setup to investigate electron diffraction for double and single slit arrangements. We evaluated each simulation, with 30 students each for The Driven Pendulum and Evolve simulations and about 100 students for The Double Slit Experiment. From these evaluations we have developed a set of the features for the effective use of simulations in distance learning. The features include student support, multiple representations and tailorability.