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Garden with Insight v1.0 Help: microworld
Microworld is a term coined by Seymour Papert in his book Mindstorms (1980). A microworld is a
learning environment characterized by these qualities:
It is self-contained, that
is, it has a limited scope. This makes it easier for students to concentrate on exploring particular questions
without extraneous information.
The universe of possible actions
is constrained, which simplifies the choices to be made and gives the student tools with which to
make decisions.
Basic concepts are related in
some way to concrete realizations. For example, in Papert's LOGO language, the
movements of a turtle are used to introduce students to problem-solving and programming. Thus new
knowledge builds on existing personal knowledge of things in the real world.
The environment is easy
to use and allows the student to operate with a variety of skill levels. Experiences build on
experiences to draw the student in to more complicated questions.
The environment
engages the student in an exciting process of learning because the environment is rich in a variety
of questions that can be posed and hypotheses that can be tested.
The environment is open-
ended and thus allows students to learn by designing, thus actively involving their curiosity and
engaging their habits of exploration in scientific theory construction.
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