BeeSim: leveraging wearable computers in participatory simulations with young children

New technologies have enabled students to become active participants in computational simulations of dynamic and complex systems (called Participatory Simulations), providing a "first-person" perspective on complex systems. However, most existing Participatory Simulations have targeted older children, teens, and adults assuming that such concepts are too challenging for younger age groups. This paper, by contrast, presents a design for a Participatory Simulation, called BeeSim, which makes use of wearable computers and targets young children (7-8 years old) to model the behaviors of honeybee nectar collection. In our preliminary user studies, we found that BeeSim contributed to systems understanding and more easily managed group dynamics. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.1 [Computers and Education]: Computer Uses in Education - Collaborative learning. General Terms Participatory Simulation Keywords Computer-supported collaborative learning, Children, Systems Thinking, ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: ACMIDC
• Authors: Kylie A. Peppler, Joshua A. Danish, Benjamin Zaitlen, Diane Glosson, Alexander Jacobs, David Phelps
• Keywords: ACMIDC 2010, Complex Systems, Human Computer Interaction, Participatory Simulations, Wearable Computers