Recent calls for better education have many teachers trying out new ways to engage their students and teach them required content. In the current educational atmosphere of accountability, many people are beginning to question the effectiveness and utility of their educational programs. The Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center (CMSEC) is one such program. Key aspects addressed in this study included better understanding the essence of the CMSEC experience, whether it provides any beneficial impact to visitors, and how the CMSEC programs fit into the educational spectrum. An exploratory mixed-method design (utilizing focus groups, interviews, and surveys) was used to explore these issues. The director of the CMSEC hopes to use the information gained from investigating these questions to improve the program and to strengthen its foundation so it will survive beyond his retirement. We discovered that the CMSEC experience is based in simulation theory, very similar to other live simulation experiences that designers employ to meet similar learning outcomes. We found that much of the ambiguity that the CMSEC director identified results from ambiguous goals that are not as tightly aligned with program offerings and procedures as they could be. In order to strengthen the CMSEC programs we recommend they clarify their goals, train staff more explicitly on their goals and how to achieve them, and refine their evaluation methods to measure whether those goals are being met.

The dissertation 'Educational Simulation in Task Situations' is focused on a new medium - educational simulation, which is starting to establish itself in the field of education. This work is examining educational simulations from three different points of view: 1) the acceptance of educational simulations in the school environment, 2) the interactivity of learning material, and 3) the authenticity of learning material. The experimental results are divided into three separate chapters according to the respective viewpoint. The investigation focused on acceptance in the first chapter draws from the evaluation of 34 Czech teachers and more than 1000 students, who both evaluated the benefits and shortcomings of particular educational simulations that were used by the teachers and their students. The experiment on interactivity (N = 152) in the second chapter is focused on the experimental comparison of learning material with activated interactive features and learning material with deactivated features. The third experiment on authenticity (N = 48) compares teaching material using authentic media sequences and the same material converted into an animated form. All three main chapters contain a theoretical review of the respective topic and our own experimental research. The methodology is based on the...

Incorporating computers into daily K-12 classroom teaching promises to benefit student learning, and improve teaching practice substantially. Computer enhanced curricula may enable more teachers to create exploratory and inquiry based lessons, but in most cases supporting software have only been realized as practice tools for specific rote learning skills. Drills do little to help students develop higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills. With more computers in the classroom, the assumption was that computers would be integrated into curricula with a high usage of educational software, but research suggests that this assumption has not been borne out (Powell & Okey, 1994; Tyack & Cuban, 1995). Our general argument is that systems whose usability characteristics have been designed to meet teachers" needs and that can be easily tailored to meet specific teaching objectives are more likely to be incorporated into everyday teaching practices. One type of computer-based activity that enables teachers to engage students in exploratory learning is an educational simulation. Many educational software packages that build simulations have limited usability because they have unmodifiable, limited modifiable or difficult-to-modify functionality. Still others are useful, but are too expensive for many schools to afford. These packages fall short of achieving the ultimate goal of providing useful classroom simulation technology " providing teachers with the option of building simulations from scratch or reusing existing simulations by adapting their functionality. Because teachers have limited time to learn new technology or develop new simulations, this research focused on developing a new framework that would help teachers create easily adaptable and reusable customized educational materials, encouraging them to use these materials to build and extend simulations in collaboration with their students. We began our study by analyzing the currently available tools for visual construction of educational simulations; we used the results of these analyses to develop an alternative environment"SimBuilder. This environment was designed to address the general usability and programming style issues observed in our analysis of other tools. A minimalist self-study tutorial was designed to support rapid start-up and use of the SimBuilder. Through a comparative analysis using a state-of-the-art environment (AgentSheets) that collected a wide range of quantitative and qualitative measures of learning, programming style, usability, motivation, and strategies for code reuse, we determined that SimBuilder offers an improved environment for teachers to construct educational simulations. / Ph. D.

Uma nova geração de alunos, imersos em tecnologias que envolvem a utilização de mensagens de texto, mídias sociais e games, vem surgindo a cada dia, trazendo um foco diferente, uma mentalidade e um estilo de aprendizagem distinto em relação às gerações que os precederam. Estes alunos sentem-se igualmente confortáveis aprendendo em ambientes virtuais ou reais, pois não conseguem ver a diferença que separa um mundo do outro. A experiência de uso dessas tecnologias imersivas em um ambiente educacional poderia desencadear no aluno um maior engajamento e assim favorecer os processos de aprendizagem? Esta dissertação apresenta a possibilidade de utilização de um simulador social como recurso pedagógico, apresentando o recurso de simulação educativa de um conteúdo da disciplina de Física no contexto de um mundo virtual. Podemos trazer para esta situação de ensino e aprendizagem a possibilidade de reproduzir experiências pessoais, que são certamente mais significativas do que situações em que apenas apresentamos um modelo descritivo demonstrando o fenômeno. Novas possibilidades de interação e colaboração surgem neste modelo de simulação. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um simulador que contempla um fenômeno físico estudado no primeiro ano do ensino médio, a colisão de dois corpos. A ambientação deste simulador remete o estudante a um parque de diversões, no qual ele interage com uma de suas atrações, o Carro Choque. A simulação aqui proposta busca instigar o aluno a descobrir “o que aconteceria se”. Mais que um simulador finalizado que apenas representa o fenômeno e determina qual a resposta é a correta, este simulador tem por objetivo auxiliar o aluno a observar o fenômeno e melhor compreender os conceitos a ele associados, formular suas próprias hipóteses e conclusões, tendo preferencialmente a presença de um professor que o instigue, crie as situações problema para que este aluno busque identificar as possíveis alternativas. Para validação da pesquisa, utilizou-se o simulador em uma turma de oitava série do ensino fundamental, com o objetivo de observar evidências de aprendizagem e engajamento dos estudantes no simulador proposto. Os seis alunos envolvidos na pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, passaram por cinco etapas de observação, seguindo metodologia com base construtivista, tendo como principais referenciais os teóricos Piaget e Inhelder e Sinclair. A partir do acompanhamento dos alunos nos experimentos, foi possível observar que este modelo simulado alcançou os objetivos inicialmente propostos. A interatividade e imersão propiciados pelo ambiente virtual proporcionam um maior nível de engajamento aos alunos envolvidos na pesquisa e se mostraram facilitadores dos processos de aprendizagem relacionados aos fenômenos físicos considerados. / A new generation of students, immersed in technologies which evolve with the use of text messages, social media and games, emerges day after day, bringing a different focus, learning mechanisms different from preceding generations. These students feel equally comfortable to learn in virtual or real environments, as they do not see the difference that separates one world from the other. The experience in the use of these immersive technologies in an educational environment could trigger in the student a higher level of engagement and in this way favor learning processes? This Masters dissertation presents an investigation about the use of a social simulator as a pedagogical resource, proposing an educational simulation resource of a topic in Physics, in the context of a virtual world. One may bring for this learning situation the possibility to reproduce personal experiences, which are certainly more significant than other situations in which a descriptive model demonstrating a given phenomenon is used. New possibilities of interaction and collaboration emerge in this simulation model. A simulator has been developed involving a physics phenomenon that is studied in the first year of high school: two-body collision. The setting chosen for the simulator was an amusement park, in which the student interacts with one of its attractions, the bumper car. The simulation proposed here attempts to instigate the student to find out “what would happen if”. More than a closed simulator that only represents the given phenomenon and determines which would be the correct answer, this simulator has as a main goal to help the student to observe the phenomenon and better understand the concepts associated to it, to formulate his/her own hypotheses and conclusions, preferably working with a teacher who can instigate him, who can create problem situations for the student to try to identify possible alternatives. To validate the research, the simulator has been used in a class with the goal of observing students’ learning and engagement evidence. The six students who participated in this qualitative research went through five observation steps, following a constructivist methodology, mainly based on the theorists Piaget, Inhelder and Sinclair. The experiments demonstrated that the simulated model achieved the proposed goals. The interactivity and immersion of the virtual world enabled a higher engagement level of the students participating in the research, and facilitated learning processes related to the physical phenomenon considered.

Uma nova geração de alunos, imersos em tecnologias que envolvem a utilização de mensagens de texto, mídias sociais e games, vem surgindo a cada dia, trazendo um foco diferente, uma mentalidade e um estilo de aprendizagem distinto em relação às gerações que os precederam. Estes alunos sentem-se igualmente confortáveis aprendendo em ambientes virtuais ou reais, pois não conseguem ver a diferença que separa um mundo do outro. A experiência de uso dessas tecnologias imersivas em um ambiente educacional poderia desencadear no aluno um maior engajamento e assim favorecer os processos de aprendizagem? Esta dissertação apresenta a possibilidade de utilização de um simulador social como recurso pedagógico, apresentando o recurso de simulação educativa de um conteúdo da disciplina de Física no contexto de um mundo virtual. Podemos trazer para esta situação de ensino e aprendizagem a possibilidade de reproduzir experiências pessoais, que são certamente mais significativas do que situações em que apenas apresentamos um modelo descritivo demonstrando o fenômeno. Novas possibilidades de interação e colaboração surgem neste modelo de simulação. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um simulador que contempla um fenômeno físico estudado no primeiro ano do ensino médio, a colisão de dois corpos. A ambientação deste simulador remete o estudante a um parque de diversões, no qual ele interage com uma de suas atrações, o Carro Choque. A simulação aqui proposta busca instigar o aluno a descobrir “o que aconteceria se”. Mais que um simulador finalizado que apenas representa o fenômeno e determina qual a resposta é a correta, este simulador tem por objetivo auxiliar o aluno a observar o fenômeno e melhor compreender os conceitos a ele associados, formular suas próprias hipóteses e conclusões, tendo preferencialmente a presença de um professor que o instigue, crie as situações problema para que este aluno busque identificar as possíveis alternativas. Para validação da pesquisa, utilizou-se o simulador em uma turma de oitava série do ensino fundamental, com o objetivo de observar evidências de aprendizagem e engajamento dos estudantes no simulador proposto. Os seis alunos envolvidos na pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, passaram por cinco etapas de observação, seguindo metodologia com base construtivista, tendo como principais referenciais os teóricos Piaget e Inhelder e Sinclair. A partir do acompanhamento dos alunos nos experimentos, foi possível observar que este modelo simulado alcançou os objetivos inicialmente propostos. A interatividade e imersão propiciados pelo ambiente virtual proporcionam um maior nível de engajamento aos alunos envolvidos na pesquisa e se mostraram facilitadores dos processos de aprendizagem relacionados aos fenômenos físicos considerados. / A new generation of students, immersed in technologies which evolve with the use of text messages, social media and games, emerges day after day, bringing a different focus, learning mechanisms different from preceding generations. These students feel equally comfortable to learn in virtual or real environments, as they do not see the difference that separates one world from the other. The experience in the use of these immersive technologies in an educational environment could trigger in the student a higher level of engagement and in this way favor learning processes? This Masters dissertation presents an investigation about the use of a social simulator as a pedagogical resource, proposing an educational simulation resource of a topic in Physics, in the context of a virtual world. One may bring for this learning situation the possibility to reproduce personal experiences, which are certainly more significant than other situations in which a descriptive model demonstrating a given phenomenon is used. New possibilities of interaction and collaboration emerge in this simulation model. A simulator has been developed involving a physics phenomenon that is studied in the first year of high school: two-body collision. The setting chosen for the simulator was an amusement park, in which the student interacts with one of its attractions, the bumper car. The simulation proposed here attempts to instigate the student to find out “what would happen if”. More than a closed simulator that only represents the given phenomenon and determines which would be the correct answer, this simulator has as a main goal to help the student to observe the phenomenon and better understand the concepts associated to it, to formulate his/her own hypotheses and conclusions, preferably working with a teacher who can instigate him, who can create problem situations for the student to try to identify possible alternatives. To validate the research, the simulator has been used in a class with the goal of observing students’ learning and engagement evidence. The six students who participated in this qualitative research went through five observation steps, following a constructivist methodology, mainly based on the theorists Piaget, Inhelder and Sinclair. The experiments demonstrated that the simulated model achieved the proposed goals. The interactivity and immersion of the virtual world enabled a higher engagement level of the students participating in the research, and facilitated learning processes related to the physical phenomenon considered.

Uma nova geração de alunos, imersos em tecnologias que envolvem a utilização de mensagens de texto, mídias sociais e games, vem surgindo a cada dia, trazendo um foco diferente, uma mentalidade e um estilo de aprendizagem distinto em relação às gerações que os precederam. Estes alunos sentem-se igualmente confortáveis aprendendo em ambientes virtuais ou reais, pois não conseguem ver a diferença que separa um mundo do outro. A experiência de uso dessas tecnologias imersivas em um ambiente educacional poderia desencadear no aluno um maior engajamento e assim favorecer os processos de aprendizagem? Esta dissertação apresenta a possibilidade de utilização de um simulador social como recurso pedagógico, apresentando o recurso de simulação educativa de um conteúdo da disciplina de Física no contexto de um mundo virtual. Podemos trazer para esta situação de ensino e aprendizagem a possibilidade de reproduzir experiências pessoais, que são certamente mais significativas do que situações em que apenas apresentamos um modelo descritivo demonstrando o fenômeno. Novas possibilidades de interação e colaboração surgem neste modelo de simulação. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um simulador que contempla um fenômeno físico estudado no primeiro ano do ensino médio, a colisão de dois corpos. A ambientação deste simulador remete o estudante a um parque de diversões, no qual ele interage com uma de suas atrações, o Carro Choque. A simulação aqui proposta busca instigar o aluno a descobrir “o que aconteceria se”. Mais que um simulador finalizado que apenas representa o fenômeno e determina qual a resposta é a correta, este simulador tem por objetivo auxiliar o aluno a observar o fenômeno e melhor compreender os conceitos a ele associados, formular suas próprias hipóteses e conclusões, tendo preferencialmente a presença de um professor que o instigue, crie as situações problema para que este aluno busque identificar as possíveis alternativas. Para validação da pesquisa, utilizou-se o simulador em uma turma de oitava série do ensino fundamental, com o objetivo de observar evidências de aprendizagem e engajamento dos estudantes no simulador proposto. Os seis alunos envolvidos na pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, passaram por cinco etapas de observação, seguindo metodologia com base construtivista, tendo como principais referenciais os teóricos Piaget e Inhelder e Sinclair. A partir do acompanhamento dos alunos nos experimentos, foi possível observar que este modelo simulado alcançou os objetivos inicialmente propostos. A interatividade e imersão propiciados pelo ambiente virtual proporcionam um maior nível de engajamento aos alunos envolvidos na pesquisa e se mostraram facilitadores dos processos de aprendizagem relacionados aos fenômenos físicos considerados. / A new generation of students, immersed in technologies which evolve with the use of text messages, social media and games, emerges day after day, bringing a different focus, learning mechanisms different from preceding generations. These students feel equally comfortable to learn in virtual or real environments, as they do not see the difference that separates one world from the other. The experience in the use of these immersive technologies in an educational environment could trigger in the student a higher level of engagement and in this way favor learning processes? This Masters dissertation presents an investigation about the use of a social simulator as a pedagogical resource, proposing an educational simulation resource of a topic in Physics, in the context of a virtual world. One may bring for this learning situation the possibility to reproduce personal experiences, which are certainly more significant than other situations in which a descriptive model demonstrating a given phenomenon is used. New possibilities of interaction and collaboration emerge in this simulation model. A simulator has been developed involving a physics phenomenon that is studied in the first year of high school: two-body collision. The setting chosen for the simulator was an amusement park, in which the student interacts with one of its attractions, the bumper car. The simulation proposed here attempts to instigate the student to find out “what would happen if”. More than a closed simulator that only represents the given phenomenon and determines which would be the correct answer, this simulator has as a main goal to help the student to observe the phenomenon and better understand the concepts associated to it, to formulate his/her own hypotheses and conclusions, preferably working with a teacher who can instigate him, who can create problem situations for the student to try to identify possible alternatives. To validate the research, the simulator has been used in a class with the goal of observing students’ learning and engagement evidence. The six students who participated in this qualitative research went through five observation steps, following a constructivist methodology, mainly based on the theorists Piaget, Inhelder and Sinclair. The experiments demonstrated that the simulated model achieved the proposed goals. The interactivity and immersion of the virtual world enabled a higher engagement level of the students participating in the research, and facilitated learning processes related to the physical phenomenon considered.

The aim of this study was to investigate, whether the aspect of interactivity (meaning problem solving interactivity) implemented in multimedia learning materials would positively influence learning outcomes of students. The third and fourth-grade pupils had been split up in two groups and they learned about a topic of natural sciences for about 20 minutes. The first group were studying from an interactive material - short educational game. The second group were studying from a noniteractive material - short educational animation. As variables we have chosen the following - the learning outcomes of the pupils, the amount of motivation to manipulate with the educational tool and the evaluation of atractivity of this tool. Based on multimedia learning theories (CTML, CATLM), we assumed that interactivity would enhance the extent of motivation, evaluation of atractivity and the learning outcomes. Our results partially confirmed our hypothesis. We found positive effect on motivation and evaluation, nevertheless we found no effect on learning outcomes - there was no difference between the groups within this domain. As one of the possible explanations we propose Sweller's cognitive load theory. KEYWORDS Multimedia learning, interactivity, educational animation, educational game, learning outcomes

I arbetet görs ett försök att genom litteratur och elevintervjuer närma sig frågan om vilka förutsättningar för lärande som simuleringar i geografi erbjuder och vilka lärandeteorier som då blir relevanta. Intervjuer har därför gjorts med elever efter att de genomfört ett för undersökningen utvalt simuleringsspel. I arbetet ställs också frågan om hur elever uppfattar simuleringen som didaktiskt verktyg och ett antal svarskategorier struktureras. Slutsatserna är att lärandet i simuleringar i första hand tycks vara beroende av den egna praktiska erfarenheten, den sociala interaktionen mellan deltagarna och den emotionella laddningen. Elevernas uppfattningar av lärandeformen stödjer dessa kvalitéer, men tillfogade också betydelsen av variation i undervisningen och det inneboende spelrummets betydelse för kreativiteten. / By literature and studentinterviews this work aims to identify which kind of learningpotentials geography simulations hold and try to connect these to relevant pedagogical theories. The work also tries to explore how students perceive simulations as didactic tool and structure these views in different categories. The author concludes that learning through simulations primarily depends on practical work, social interaction and emotional commitment. Also the different character of simulations and the gaming dimension seems to influence learning positively.