Simulation as Science Discovery: Ways of Interactive Meaning-Making

This article addresses how computer-based simulations may support conceptual learning in science education. The study investigates how these interactions unfold, and explores how it may inform design. The article reports on project-based learning in schools where four pairs of students from upper secondary school use a future climate simulator integrated in a web-based learning environment. Our analytical focus is on how the students make use of the simulator to make meaning through the process. The analysis shows a considerable variety in how the students interact with the simulator, and in how they engage in a conceptual level of understanding. The findings indicate that the design was engaging, and three main modes of surprisingly stable uses were identified: utilizing the simulator as a way to get facts, enjoying the aesthetics of interaction as playability, and finally, making use of the simulator as a tool for discovery through cumulative micro-experiments.