Participatory Simulations:
Exploring Dynamic Systems through Real World Interactions
I investigate how participation in life-sized simulations can help students develop
deeper understandings of dynamic systems. By wearing small, communicating computers,
called Thinking Tags,
high school students can become actors in computationally-supported simulations.
For instance, students can participate in a simulation
of a virus spreading through a community.
Each participant then draws on their "first-person" experiences as they
work together to describe the behavior of the whole system.
To find out more about this work, you can read my masters thesis:
Participatory Simulations:
Building Collaborative Understanding through
Immersive Dynamic Modeling. If you are interested in getting more information
about the current status of this project, sending feedback, or requesting a
hard-copy of my thesis, please send email to
vanessa@media.mit.edu.
Also see:
CHI '98 Demonstration Paper
AERA '98 Demonstration Handout
Progress Report
Early proposal for this work
First version of the Thinking Tag technology