When the space is the interface

  Retrieved from the TEL opinion blog, April the 12th, 2008
 

Making accessible phenomena by means of simulations is one of the added values of computer-based learning environments. To make it simple, let's say that the key feature of simulations is to have a good mathematical model plugged on an efficient visualisation of the  targeted phenomena. However, such simulations are processed within the limited space of the screen of the computer over a short period of time. The development of virtual reality and the so-called full scale simulations allow the access to spaces beyond the limits of the screen. However, one is still immerged in an artificial world with time and persistence  constraints (notably, this is not the case in MMOs). The idea of embedded phenomena coined by Tom Moher opens smart ways to overcome several of these limitations.  An embedded phenomenon  is the emergent property of  the behaviours of a set of "distributed media located around the classroom representing 'portals' into [the] phenomenon depicting local state information corresponding to [its mapping onto the physical space of the classroom]." The space of the class becomes the interface with the model which has been implemented; but it is more than that since a simulation can run  "continuously over weeks and months, creating information channels that are temporally and physically interleaved with, but asynchronous with respect to, the regular flow of instruction."  This approach opens new significant possibilities for the simulation of phenomena where space and time count. Migration of  bugs, movement of the planets or earthquake find with embedded phenomena a much more relevant framework to challenge learner modelling, requiring an effective conceptualisation of space and time.   

But  the essential contribution may be not  at the level of the acquisition of the concepts themselves but at the level of the acquisition of the methodology and the organisation of the scientific work. Students have to organise the space and the time to collect data, then gather and analyse what they have obtained individually to build a collective knowledge. Given the role of time, the experiment cannot be replicated at will. Close to what happen with on the field studies , observations have to be planed, showing may be more accurately the relation between observation and theory.    Moher emphasises the positive effect of his approach, its "affective impact" (more emotional interest in the phenomena) and its impact of productive social interactions. And indeed one must recognise that  this smart idea provides students with an unprecedented experience. However, there is not much conceptual analysis, and it is difficult to assess how far this will be manageable and robust enough under the classical practical constraints in school. It is said at the beginning of the paper that "the [embedded phenomena] framework does not prescribe an instructional design per se, not does it provide any direct scaffolding to support learning", but few lines later it is claimed that "phenomena are made accessible and responsive to the needs of learners through the novel uses of classroom time and space". How are needs of the students, specifications of the environment and orchestration required from the teacher taken into account in the design and the implementation of embedded phenomena? There is inherently a simplification in the design of this framework and, at the same time, a complexification of the teaching and learning context. How far does this count? How does it impact the learning outcome? And the teaching task? Embedded phenomena have a huge learning and teaching potential, but it also opens the way to quite difficult and stimulating research questions. No doubt that we will be eager to discuss these with Tom Moher when he comes to the Learning science conference next summer in Utrecht . Moher, T. (2006). Embedded Phenomena: Supporting Science Learning with Classroom-sized Distributed Simulations. Proceedings ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2006) (April 2006, Montreal, Canada), 691-700. (Best Paper award)