Abstract
The science of complex systems can provide not only scientist, but also professionals, policy-makers and citizens, with thinking resources to interpret and understand most of the modern global challenges. In this field, the widespread use of computational simulations, that are neither theoretical instruments nor laboratory experiments, has been contributing to the widening of the scientific skill gap between experts and citizens. The pilot study we present in this contribution aims at investigating high school students’ approaches towards simulations of complex systems, by searching for the criteria they use to evaluate their explanatory power and the reliability of their results. Preliminary analysis of the paired interviews has shown that (1) rarely students are able to elaborate explanations of the simulated complex phenomena, and (2) their critical attitude and trust towards simulations are strongly affected by their epistemological background. We argue that these findings deserve to be furtherly investigated, to understand in more details the sources of students’ difficulties in recognizing the epistemological and methodological value of simulations for scientific research and practice.
Highlights
In an increasingly complex world, our society is facing big global challenges – e.g. global warming, migrations, radical changes in the labour market dynamics, world populations growth – and most of them need STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) knowledge and competences to be tackled and understood [1]
The pilot study we present in this contribution aims at investigating high school students’ approaches towards simulations of complex systems, by searching for the criteria they use to evaluate their explanatory power and the reliability of their results
In this study we dealt with the issue of the scientific skill gap, investigating the factors affecting high school students’ trust in computer simulations as scientific tools that help in formulating possible explanations of phenomena
Summary
In an increasingly complex world, our society is facing big global challenges – e.g. global warming, migrations, radical changes in the labour market dynamics, world populations growth – and most of them need STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) knowledge and competences to be tackled and understood [1]. We are facing a paradox [3]: never before in human history there have been so many scientists developing so many analytical tools, but they often do not reach the working knowledge of professionals, policymakers and citizens. Complex phenomena like climate change cannot be investigated with the traditional experimental method [8], that is why most of the projections and elaborations of future scenarios that – should – inform policy-makers decisions are not based on experiments but rather on computer simulations They have progressively flanked theories and laboratory inquiry in research practice and ranked as the third pillar of science [9, 10], simulations are usually not part of high school curricula. Even if many multimedia interactive tools have been introduced in the classrooms
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