Microworld

Τα διαδραστικά προσομοιωτικά μοντέλα αποτελούν δυναμικά εργαλεία μάθησης στη διδασκαλία της φυσικής, τα οποία υποστηρίζουν τους μαθητές στη παραγωγή επιστημονικών νοημάτων και στην πραγμάτωση γνωστικής σύγκρουσης μέσω της οπτικοποίησης ή της προσομοιωτικής αναπαράστασης που παρέχουν. Στην παρούσα ερευνητική μελέτη εξετάζεται η αποτελεσματικότητα αξιοποίησης του μικρόκοσμου ‘3D Shooter’ στην οικοδόμηση γνώσης ως προς το φαινόμενο της κίνησης σωμάτων σε τρισδιάστατο χώρο. Από την ανάλυση των δεδομένων μας διαπιστώνεται η συμβολή του μικρόκοσμου τρισδιάστατου Νευτώνειου χώρου στην υποστήριξη των μαθητών, προκειμένου να οικοδομήσουν και να εδραιώσουν νέα γνώση, μετασχηματίζοντας τις εσφαλμένες αρχικές τους ιδέες και δημιουργώντας επιστημονικά νοήματα.

El contenido de esta comunicación forma parte, y hace referencia, a la Unidad Didáctica titulada "GEOMETRÍA FRACTAL ¿Qué son y cómo pueden los fractales ayudar a representar y a organizar el espacio?", que incluye el desarrollo completo del
resto de coordenadas curriculares (contextualización, objetivos didácticos, metodología, contenidos, evaluación y recursos) y de una serie de actividades propuestas para las materias de Matemáticas e Informática de ESO y Bachillerato. Este material está fue experimentado en 1996 con alumnos de niveles equivalentes a Tercero de ESO y Primero de Bachillerato.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya)

Are you ever really alone?
Even when you think you are sitting at home alone, you are still in the company of a great number of living things. Bacteria live on you and in your body, and constantly protect you and also, occasionally, cause you to become ill. Mites that are spread everywhere, from the chair you sit in to your carpet, to the air you breathe. Moulds and fungi begin reproducing on foods left out in the open in your kitchen for even a few hours—all of these constitute a different world with its own unique lifestyles, nutritional systems and structural features.
Maybe you have always thought that the humans, animals and plants you see around you represent the sole community of living things. Yet the microorganisms, members of a secret world that reach to every corner of the Earth, are far more numerous that those other, more familiar living things. These minute creatures outnumber the animals in the world by twenty to one. 1 In the same way that they are present all over the world, they are also essential to human life.

What are the members of this enormous community of microorganisms?

The living things we shall be examining in this book consist of bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae and mites. You will doubtless be familiar with their names, but may be mostly unaware of how closely your life is bound up with them. For example, the nitrogen cycle—one of the basic processes that make life on Earth possible—is established by bacteria. Root fungi, on the other hand, are the most important factor in the way plants extract the minerals from the soil. Bacteria on your tongue prevent you being poisoned by foods containing nitrates, such as salad or meat. At the same time, bacteria and algae are able to perform photosynthesis, another essential process factor in the existence of life on Earth, and an ability they share with plants. In short, these microorganisms are a vital components in the balance of life on Earth.

On occasion, some of these microscopic living things also give rise to sickness. The immune and defense systems in your body exist in order to combat these organisms. Some spread through your body at great speed, employing methods that medical science has still not uncovered, while others may put an end to someone's life in mere moments, or only gradually. Some may benefit for a living creature in return for making use of its structures, in other words, living in a symbiotic (shared life) manner. Other microorganisms are able to combine together, making decisions and plans, organizing, and carrying out the most delicate processes. All these functions are performed by microorganisms, which generally consist of a single cell, and which cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Η διδασκαλία της φυσικής μέσω της ανακαλυπτικής μάθησης αποτελεί πλέον το στόχο πολλών εθνικών αναλυτικών προγραμμάτων ως δοκιμασμένης και αποτελεσματικής εφαρμογής για την καλλιέργεια επιστημονικά εγγράμματων (scientifically literate) πολιτών. Ταυτόχρονα, η αξιοποίηση τεχνολογικών εργαλείων με ενσωματωμένες τις αρχές της ανακαλυπτικής μάθησης αποτελεί ένα δυναμικό πλαίσιο διάδρασης των μαθητών, το οποίο τους διευκολύνει στην κατανόηση αφηρημένων ή δυσνόητων εννοιών μέσω της οπτικοποίησης ή της προσομοιωτικής αναπαράστασης που παρέχουν αλλά και της δυνατότητας πειραματισμού με την οποία επιτρέπεται στους μαθητές να ‘δράσουν’ σε συγκεκριμένα αντικείμενα. Η παρούσα ερευνητική μελέτη βασισμένη στη μεθοδολογία του design-based research εξετάζει την αποτελεσματική μοντελοποίηση και οπτικοποίηση των φυσικών φαινομένων στο μικρόκοσμο ‘Κεκλιμένο Επίπεδο’ και  διερευνά τη συμβολή του μικρόκοσμου στην καθοδήγηση των μαθητών ως προς την ακολουθία του επιστημονικού παραδείγματος (paradigm) της ανακαλυπτικής μάθησης. Η εκπαιδευτική παρέμβαση αξιοποίησης ενός μικρόκοσμου για τη διδασκαλία των κινήσεων/κρούσεων των σωμάτων εφαρμόστηκε σε μαθητές γυμνασίου και λυκείου, και διαπιστώθηκε η συμβολή του εργαλείου στην ενεργή εμπλοκή των μαθητών αλλά και στην αποτελεσματική κατανόηση των υπό διαπραγμάτευση επιστημονικών εννοιών.

Complex problem solving (CPS) emerged in the last 30 years in Europe as a new part of the psychology of thinking and problem solving. This paper introduces into the field and provides a personal view. Also, related concepts like macrocognition or operative intelligence will be explained in this context. Two examples for the assessment of CPS, Tailorshop and MicroDYN, are presented to illustrate the concept by means of their measurement devices. Also, the relation of complex cognition and emotion in the CPS context is discussed. The question if CPS requires complex cognition is answered with a tentative “yes.”

This paper presents an approach to the initial programming learning using the four components instructional model and the Alice software. The quasi-experimental design was developed with two groups of students that attended two schools with very different socioeconomic status and school retention levels. The differences obtained in the mean of the programming knowledge test when co-variated with the Logical Development Scale score were positive in the two groups, with no statistical significance in the difference between both (p > 0.05). The differences obtained in the Logical Development Scale score (Échelle Collective de Devéloppement Lógique [ECDL]), before and after the experimental treatment, revealed positive differences in the experimental group with no statistical significance (p > 0.05), and in the control group with statistical significance (p < 0.05). These results suggest that the Alice software when combined with the 4C-ID instructional model has positive effects in programming learning and in logical reasoning.

The central roles that modelling plays in the processes of scientific enquiry and that models play as the outcomes of that enquiry are well established (Gilbert & Boulter, 1998). Besides, there are considerable similarities between the processes and outcomes of science and technology (Cinar, 2016). In this study, we discuss how the use of digital tools for modelling geometrical optics supports meaning generation. More specifically, it tests: a) the role of educational software ʺLaw of Light Reflectionʺ in the generation of scientific meanings, b) the factors affecting this meaning generation and c) the extent to which integrated physical concepts, strategies, cooperation and verbal interaction affect scientific meaning generation. The research methodology adopted for the purpose of compliance with these three dimensions is design‐based research which enabled us to investigate the effectiveness and the dynamic interaction of the tool with the specific cognitive skills. In this study, we used a specially designed of open‐software for modelling on geometrical optics phenomena. The use of digital tools for modelling is studied from two perspectives: inquiry based science learning and scientific meaning generation of the interactive dialogic interaction among 6 students who were assigned to two focus groups, in a public elementary school in Athens, Greece. In this context, we focused on 5 dimensions of analysis that concern inquiry and meaning generation, based on dialogic instances during the described episodes.

In this paper, we describe a design experiment aimed at helping students to explore and develop concepts of infinite processes and objects. Our approach is based on the design and development of a computational microworld, which afforded students the means to construct a range of representational models (symbolic, visual and numeric) of infinity-related objects (infinite sequences, in particular). We present episodes based on four students’ activities, seeking to illustrate how the available tools mediated students’ understandings of the infinite in rich ways, allowing them to discriminate subtle process-oriented features of infinite processes. We claim that the microworld supported students in the coordination of hitherto unconnected or conflicting intuitions concerning infinity, based on a constructive articulation of different representational forms we name as ‘representational moderation’.

This paper presents a summary of the doctoral thesis that evaluates the use of Alice microworld combined with different pedagogical approaches to learn introductory programming, specifically in the variables programming knowledge and logical reasoning. The results suggest that when microworlds are combined with the 4C-ID instructional model there are positive effects in programming learning, but they have no impact if an expository method is used. However, given the limited number of sampled subjects in this thesis, this topic should be further researched. It is necessary to understand to what extent, measurable, the use of certain teaching methods with or without association with microworlds, influence the results of students in the knowledge and logical reasoning.

"In this thesis, an investigation into how visualisation and manipulation tools can best support learners of Modal logic is described.  Problems associated with learning Modal logic are also researched.

Seven topics in Modal logic are investigated, as is the influence of domain-independent factors (e.g. motivation) on learning.  Studies show that students find concepts such as Modal proofs and systems difficult to learn, whilst possible worlds and Modes are fairly straightforward.  Topics such as reference, belief and accessibility relations fall between these extremes.
Two roles for representations in reasoning are identified: providing a concrete domain for students to reason about, and supporting the process of reasoning.  Systems which make use of these complementary representations were found to be more effective for learners than either the syntactic or the diagrammatic representations traditionally used to teach Modal logic.

A review of software used to support students learning logic highlights two important features: the use of examples, and automation of routine tasks.  A learning environment for Modal logic was designed which incorporated these.  The environment was developed using an extension of SmallTalk’s Model-View-Controller mechanism, and incorporates complementary representations, enhanced by direct manipulation.

A further study investigates the added benefits of using this tool, as opposed to using the same representation but working with pen and paper.  This confirms the importance of using ‘concrete’ content representations and minimising learners’ cognitive load.  Performance measures show that software users learnt more, had a deeper style of learning, and found the topic less abstract than their pen & paper counterparts.

This research shows that complementary representations are an effective way of supporting students studying Modal logic, and that visualisation and manipulation tools which incorporate these systems will provide additional benefits for learners."

This article presents a learning environment design that compares the effectiveness of using Alice software with conventional programming languages in the scope of initial programming learning. The model proposes a quasi-experimental design in three stages: i) a pre-test to assess the development of logical reasoning in experimental (n=11) and control (n=11) groups; ii) learning programming with the Alice software and pseudocode or exclusively with pseudocode, in the experimental and control group respectively, both using a expository teaching methodology; iii) applying a validated programming test to assess student knowledge, mediated by logical reasoning in both groups. The pilot study indicated no significant differences in the programming test between experimental and control groups (p > 0.05). These results indicate that the effectiveness of the Alice software in programming knowledge might not work with the expository method.

We present a problem class of mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs) with nonconvex continuous relaxations which stem from economic test scenarios that are used in the analysis of human complex problem solving. In a round-based scenario participants hold an executive function. A posteriori a performance indicator is calculated and correlated to personal measures such as intelligence, working memory, or emotion regulation. Altogether, we investigate 2088 optimization problems that differ in size and initial conditions, based on real-world experimental data from 12 rounds of 174 participants. The goals are twofold. First, from the optimal solutions we gain additional insight into a complex system, which facilitates the analysis of a participant’s performance in the test. Second, we propose a methodology to automatize this process by providing a new criterion based on the solution of a series of optimization problems. By providing a mathematical optimization model and this methodology, we disprove the assumption that the “fruit fly of complex problem solving,” the Tailorshop scenario that has been used for dozens of published studies, is not mathematically accessible—although it turns out to be extremely challenging even for advanced state-of-the-art global optimization algorithms and we were not able to solve all instances to global optimality in reasonable time in this study. The publicly available computational tool Tobago [TOBAGO web site https://sourceforge.net/projects/tobago] can be used to automatically generate problem instances of various complexity, contains interfaces to AMPL and GAMS, and is hence ideally suited as a testbed for different kinds of algorithms and solvers. Computational practice is reported with respect to the influence of integer variables, problem dimension, and local versus global optimization with different optimization codes.

Microworlds are simulations in computational environments where the student can manipulate objects and learn from those manipulations. Since their creation, they have been used in a wide range of academic areas to improve students learning from elementary school to college. However, their effectiveness is unclear since many studies do not measure the acquired knowledge after the use of microworlds but instead they focus on self-evaluation. Furthermore, it has not been clear whether its effect on learning is related to the teaching method. In this study, we perform a meta-analysis to ascertain the impact of microworlds combined with different teaching methods on students' knowledge acquisition. We applied a selection criterion to a collection of 668 studies and were left with 10 microworld applications relevant to our learning context. These studies were then assessed through a meta-analysis using effect size with Cohen's d and p-value. Our analysis shows that the cognitive methods combined with microworlds have a great impact on the knowledge acquisition (d = 1.03; p < 0.001) but failed to show a significant effect (d = 0.21) for expository methods.

In business and organisational psychology, microworlds and simulations are used in
research to replicate real-world tasks which cannot be investigated "in vivo" due to their hazardous potential. For example, microworlds and simulations enable employee behaviour to be trained and investigated without being in the real physical location. To ensure that the
observed behaviour mirrors the participants’ authentic real-world performance and that they "dive" into the simulated task, "Presence" is recommended as a treatment check. In the current
paper, a 6-item scale for measuring Presence for lab-based microworld research (PLBMR) is presented. The scientific roots of the questionnaire are briefly described as well as several validation steps. An exploratory factor analysis (N=88) led to a two-factor structure of the six items. This two-factor structure was confirmed in a sample with 233 participants, and in a third step, evidence for validity in terms of aspects such as authentic behaviour was found.

Metafora is Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) software environment, funded by the EU commission, and currently under development. Its aim is to support collaborative learning in mathematics and science fusing several advanced technological and pedagogical ideas. The software will include a tool for the students to plan their activities, a tool with space for argumentative discussions and software components for facilitation of science and math inquiry called "microworlds". A group of 3-5 students receive a challenge to which they will need to answer in two weeks time.They plan how to solve it, simulate, discuss and exchange materials, while the teacher moderates the learning process, instead of giving a frontal lecture.
Such a learning environment presents challenges for us, the developers, thus we have developed a series of seminars in which we have learned about the roles of the teachers in such a learning environment.