Review by: Strobel, Johannes (2005-03-29)

The article describes the design and development of a virtual field laboratory in the area of environmental studies. The environment utilizes GIS technology, 2D and 3D modelling as technological approaches, and aims for an integration of a variety of inquiry-based learning and overall more situated and student-centered learning approaches.

The authors situate their work well in current challenges of simulation design, e. g. the problem of authenticity (a simulation utilizing ‘real’ world data), complexity (how to meaningfully reduce the complexity of the simulated slice of the real world), accessibility (visually representing the massive amount of complex data), and interactivity (how to design challenging activities for students).

The project utilizes a variety of cutting-edge technologies and scientific visualization approaches to give students access to the data from a flatwood site at Florida from which extensive data sets collected over 6 years were available. Access was provided by different layers (e. g. whole site, individual wells) and through different modalities (3D scenarios, 2D models, hypertexts, and animations). Especially the ‘zooming’ into different aspects of the environment and the simulated area is worthwhile to mention. It supports the process of seeing the bigger picture, focusing on a small selection, and going back. This is particularly important to a systemic conceptual understanding of the simulated phenomena.

Though the challenge of authenticity, complexity, and accessibility of the data were very well addressed, the interactivity, the instructional and pedagogical design do have some shortcomings. As acknowledged by the authors themselves, with animations students are often only starting sequences but no interactive functions were available. Unfortunately the most promising approach in the direction of students’ activities, the adaptive selective simulation, was only minimally described. It would have been insightful to see different ways of how students were able to manipulate data and test hypothesis.

As far as the cognitive design goes, most of the activities are supplemented by the information in the system, but need to be implemented and designed outside the environment. The system could be improved by incorporating different scaffolds for students trying to make sense of the presented data and by adding (collaborative) workspaces into the system where students could store results of their analysis.

Overall, the project is an impressive example of the use of new technologies like GIS and 2D/3D modelling for building a virtual laboratory. Its quite unique contribution is the fieldwork component, where most virtual laboratories are literally laboratories with four walls and a set of available procedures and objects to manipulate. The article is highly recommended for designers and instructors planning to utilize simulations in corporate or (post-) secondary education.