<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">I very much agree with this! Simulations are still "just math" and "real science" is about the relationships we can build between our representations (which are in the end "just stories", even if coherent and logically connected) and "what's out there". This "outlook" (or the more fancy phrase "epistemological stance") is the most important part of learning science (and is the least well taught or learned -- at least in the US).<br><br>Bad simulations can be edifying if a real effort is made to see what the real world seems to do, but most people, and especially most children, are all too willing to substitute the story for the mapping.<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Alan<br><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new
york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">----- Original Message ----<br>From: Yoshiki Ohshima <yoshiki@vpri.org><br>To: library@lists.laptop.org; sugar@lists.laptop.org; Games for the OLPC <games@lists.laptop.org><br>Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:27:45 AM<br>Subject: Re: [OLPC-Games] [sugar] [OLPC library] Physics -- Newtonian mechanics.. for kids!<br><br>
At Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:33:50 -0700,<br>Joshua Minor wrote:<br>> <br>> <br>> That doesn't mean that it is pointless to use as a teaching aide, just <br>> that (in)accuracy of simulation needs to be part of the lesson plan.<br><br> Yes. And it should be rather more carefully built because the<br>visual (iconic) impact of these simulations is too big.<br><br> The physics is about constant validation the model against the real<br>world out there, to see if the model has some power of predicting what<br>is going to happen. The model is described a language called<br>mathematics.<br><br> But the computer is just mathematics that doesn't have the real<br>world connection. The engines like Box2D are its own kind of<br>mathematics, and the "simulation" visible to the user is just the<br>visualization of the mathematics.<br><br> In that sense, the Physics activity should be treated by teachers as<br>the
tool for teaching mathematics that tend to be used in physics,<br>rather than teaching physics. (Subtle distinction but it is I think<br>important.)<br><br>-- Yoshiki<br>_______________________________________________<br>Games mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Games@lists.laptop.org" href="mailto:Games@lists.laptop.org">Games@lists.laptop.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/games" target="_blank">http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/games</a><br></div></div></div><br>
</body></html>