Twente (NL), September 2007 - Inquiry learning with computer simulations facilitates the education process through experimentation and scientific reasoning. With simulations, students change variables and observe effects in order to form conclusions. Through this process students discover principles, rules, and characteristics of scientific phenomena. So say researchers from the University of Twente, NL, in new guidelines for teachers that provide practical recommendations for improved deployment ICT in secondary schools.
The inquiry approach to learning focuses on simulations and other using learning content as a means to develop information-processing and problem-solving skills. Because the amount of knowledge is ever-increasing, inquiry learning is an essential part of education. Yet when it comes to the scientific method, the underpinning of inquiry learning, research has shown that secondary school and university-level students often encounter difficulties.
They frequently experience problems in developing appropriate hypotheses, or, during experimentation, they alter too many variables simultaneously, so that their outcomes cannot be linked to any specific changes. Moreover, these students work unsystematically and don't monitor their learning process.
Computer simulations are often used in inquiry learning because they support learners whilst also enabling them to explore a subject matter actively in an independent way. Furthermore, simulations can be created for a wide range of disciplines, from economics to biology, and from psychology to medicine.
Kaleidoscope researchers, some of the leading experts in the field of inquiry learning, suggest that to increase the learning value and quality of students' use of computer simulations, appropriate supports (for effective experimentation, development of hypotheses, and data analysis, for example) must accompany simulations.
They make these recommendations and more in new guidelines that advise secondary school teachers on effective ways to support inquiry learning through computer simulations. The guidelines, issued by the Kaleidoscope special interest group Computer-Supported Inquiry Learning, aim to provide teachers at this level with practical information that will help them better use ICT in schools.
