NSW HSC Online Professional Development Node

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Helping students to visualise difficult-to-understand concepts

Simulations, models and visualisation tools can make it possible for students to bridge experience and abstraction, and help deepen understanding of ambiguous or challenging content. Dynamic models in interactive media allow students to build and manipulate phenomena that they can see the results of their actions. Researchers have suggested that this leads to a deeper understanding of phenomena in the physical and social worlds (Bransford et al. 2000, p. 216).

Technologies can been used as scaffolds by allowing students to practice and explore while providing prompts, immediate feedback and avenues for further research.

Examples:

Model-It
Model-It is downloaded from this website and used by students to build, test, and evaluate qualitative models. Students can create models that represent their theories about the scientific phenomena being investigated and run simulations in order to test their models.

SimCalc
The SimCalc Project aims to enable all students to develop full understanding and practical skill with fundamental concepts of the mathematics of change in meaningful contexts, through a combination of advanced technology and curriculum reform. It uses interactive tools (which you have to download) for visualising, transforming and simulating mathematical objects.

The Heart An Online Exploration - Franklin Institute of Science
Virtual exploration of the heart.

Bio Interactive
This site has lots of animations and virtual labs where you can examine patients and learn how to diagnose their cardiac diseases. There are interactive demos where you can find out how some fish use electricity to navigate. You can also watch beautiful animations that illustrate topics from infection of human cells by microbes to how the heart functions.

BioLogica™
BioLogica™ is a a hypermodel for teaching high school genetics, developed over the last four years with support from the National Science Foundation of the United States. BioLogica enables students to manipulate processes at different, but dynamically related levels of life function.

References:

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (eds). 2000. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. The National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. (Available online) http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9853.html [19 October 2001]

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