Re: Scientific Problem Solving

Jorn Barger (jorn@mcs.com)
Sat, 4 Nov 1995 00:04:03 EST

David R. Faulkner <g061587@jaguar1.usouthal.edu> wrote:
>I am a Ph.D. student looking for information on teaching scientific
>problem solving using computer-assisted instruction or multimedia [...]

I don't know the field, but I happened to see something on the Discovery
channel last night about a forthcoming CD-ROM from LucasArts (George
Lucas) that will teach ecology by putting you in a virtual nature
preserve and require you to make observations and figure out how
to keep creatures from going extinct.

If it's done cleverly, this could be fantastic, I think, for teaching
people to view the world as scientists do.

(And, to refer back to my lo-tech thread, it *could* be done as a
text- only game! What I really want to remind people is that the
glitz is usually just painted on, and the schools are being
squashed by a sort of model-year planned-obsolescence that forces
people to buy the new machines or lose out...)

j

Jorn Barger
jorn@mcs.com