Microworld
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Definition
- In educational technology and instructional design, a microworld implements a constructivist instructional design model that let's the learner "play" within an artificial or real (e.g. a Sandbox) environment and learn by building things.
- We agree with Rieber (1996) that microworls are not the same as simulations: "However, microworlds have two important characteristics that may not be present in a simulation. First, a microworld presents the learner with the "simplest case" of the domain, even though the learner would usually be given the means to reshape the microworld to explore increasingly more sophisticated and complex ideas. Second, a microworld must match the learner's cognitive and affective state. Learners immediately know what to do with a microworld - little or no training is necessary to begin using it (imagine first "training" a child how to use a sandbox)." (Rieber, 1996)
- " A Microworld is a term coined at the MIT Media Lab Learning and Common Sense Group . It means, literally, a tiny world inside which a student can explore alternatives, test hypotheses, and discover facts that are true about that world. It differs from a simulation in that the student is encouraged to think about it as a "real" world, and not simply as a simulation of another world (for example, the one in which we physically move about in). " quoted from Microworlds
Examples
- LOGO and variants like Lego-LOGO, Starlogo
References
Rieber, L. P. (1996). Seriously considering play: Designing interactive learning environments based on the blending of microworlds, simulations, and games. Educational Technology Research & Development, 44(2), 43-58. http://it.coe.uga.edu/~lrieber/play.html