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.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.