Explorable explanation

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Screenshot from Parable of the Polygons by Nicky Case, an explorable explanation that simulates racial segregation, which allows the audience to control how "shapist" the entities in the simulation are. Parable of the Polygons drag & drop.png
Screenshot from Parable of the Polygons by Nicky Case, an explorable explanation that simulates racial segregation, which allows the audience to control how "shapist" the entities in the simulation are.

An explorable explanation (often shortened to explorable) is a form of informative media where an interactive computer simulation of a given concept is presented, along with some form of guidance (usually prose) that suggests ways that the audience can learn from the simulation. Explorable explanations encourage users to discover things about the concept for themselves, and test their expectations of its behaviour against its actual behaviour, promoting a more active form of learning than reading or listening.

Contents

Definition

The term "explorable explanation" was first used in passing by Peter Brusilovsky in a 1994 paper, [1] but did not enter into common use until 2011, when Bret Victor published an eponymous essay [2] (the essay included an explorable explanation of a digital filter). Victor distinguishes explorable explanations from isolated interactive widgets and visualizations by the fact that they deliberately guide the attention of their audience towards particular phenomena within the simulation. In characterizing the concept, Victor explains: [2]

Explorable Explanations is my umbrella project for ideas that enable and encourage truly active reading. The goal is to change people's relationship with text. People currently think of text as information to be consumed. I want text to be used as an environment to think in.

Some of the ideas Victor espoused in the essay occurred to him while during work with Al Gore on the app version of the 2009 book Our Choice. [3] He had proposed that the app should contain interactive models, but this idea was rejected on the basis that all numerical values proposed regarding climate change needed to have a citation, and the interactive models would generate un-cited numbers. [4]

The term has since also been characterized as being about learning through play. [5] The related term "active essays" was used by Alan Kay to refer to text-based explorable explanations, [6] and a major goal of Squeak (the precursor to Scratch) was to allow for the creation of them. [7]

A few video games may be considered explorable explanations. For example, Sim City uses a complex city simulation that is intended [8] to present issues that appear in real-world urban planning. Many other games in the simulation genre have a similar intention, although with many it is not a necessity that the simulation be scientifically accurate. In the puzzle genre, games such as Incredipede also involve interacting with systems with the intention of learning. Video games may not involve explanatory text or narration.

Educational video games have an overlap with explorable explanations. [9] They are similar in that both involve a computer simulation that is visualized, and both have the intended goal that the audience learns something. However, in an educational video game, the simulation is not necessarily a simulation of the game's intended learning content. [10] Instead, learning content in educational video games is usually put in a non-interactive form such as text or voiceover; the educational game then usually has some schedule whereby the audience alternates between seeing the text and, separately, playing a game, usually a game with mechanics from a standard genre, such as a platformer. [11]

Explorable explanations are also distinct from gamification, [10] which has the stated intention of improving the structure of rewards in learning. An explorable explanation may or may not involve rewards, and most involve none.

History

Board games such as The Landlord's Game (the precursor to Monopoly) involve a simulation and so can be described as analogue precursors to explorable explanations. [12]

The PLATO computer system, which predates the personal computer, was the first platform for what would now be called explorable explanations PLATO chem exp.jpg
The PLATO computer system, which predates the personal computer, was the first platform for what would now be called explorable explanations

Many explorable explanations predate the popular use of the phrase. [13] [14] For example, the Plato system, a computer-assisted instructional system created in 1960 depicted to the right, used interactive examples to teach concepts to students. [15] In 1996, Mitchel Resnick created an explorable explanation of emergence using Conway's Game of Life as an example. [16]

The target audience for explorable explanations has historically been limited by available software distribution platforms (although some have been made for specific museums, without any intention of wider distribution, including some created by Karl Sims [17] ). Due to the fact that explorable explanations have not previously been successfully monetized, physical media such as CD-ROMs could not be considered. Since the 2000s, explorable explanations have become more common, because of widespread internet access and increased computer graphics possibilities within web browsers, for example via SVG, WebGL, and HTML5 canvas API. This allows complex simulations to be accessed instantly and shared on social media.

Wikipedia has some examples of basic explorable explanations. [18]

Subject matter

The most prevalent examples of explorable explanations concern topics within mathematics [19] [20] or computer science. [21] [22] There are numerous explanations of concepts within statistics and machine learning as well as of specific algorithms.

Explorable explanations have a bias towards focusing on these topics, and when the subject matter comes from disciplines of empirical science, there is a tendency to focus on quantitative models from within the discipline. This is true even in the case of explorable explanations about disciplines where quantitative models are less common, such as social science. [23] [24] The bias is due to the fact that explorable explanations involve a programmed simulation which is required to follow a consistent mathematical model or formal system. Jonathan Blow has argued [25] that this requirement forces subject matter to be dealt with more rigorously than other mediums such as speculative fiction.

Additionally, since the simulation requires a visualization, there is a certain bias towards subject matter close to geometry. For example, there are at least three explorable explanations about special relativity [26] [27] including A Slower Speed of Light. [28]

Use in media

Explorable explanations are increasingly being created by journalists, [29] sometimes by organisations that formerly focused on print news media [30] [31] and radio. [32] In 2015, FiveThirtyEight collaborated with The Marshall Project to produce an article on prison parole assessment [33] that included an explorable explanation of the effects of policy changes on prison populations. The article was cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as an example of how explorable explanations could be used to advance digital storytelling. [34] Newsgames may be considered explorable explanations. [35]

Other newsrooms such as Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, and The Guardian are also notable for their use of explorable explanations to tell stories, for example covering topics like climate change, drug overdoses, and economics. [30] [31] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] FiveThirtyEight has also used explorable explanations to cover topics such as gun violence [41] and p hacking. [42]

Structure

Screenshot of a Phet simulation, intended for use in a classroom. Since they do not involve a physically present teacher to guide the user's interaction, most explorable explanations instead provide guidance using explanatory text. PhETCCKScreenshot.pdf
Screenshot of a Phet simulation, intended for use in a classroom. Since they do not involve a physically present teacher to guide the user's interaction, most explorable explanations instead provide guidance using explanatory text.

Explorable explanations can differ widely in the kind of "guidance" that they give regarding how to interact with and think about their simulations. In some cases, guidance is intended to come from teachers in a school setting; this is the approach advocated for using PhET Interactive Simulations created by Carl Wieman, and they have been found to be an effective complement to traditional chalk and talk lessons. [43]

Most explorable explanations provide guidance using prose. This is the approach used in several explorable explanation creation platforms, [44] [45] including Observable [46] created by Mike Bostock. Some others use voice-over narration. [47] [48] [49]

See also

Related Research Articles

Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as writing, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditional mass media, such as printed material or audio recordings, which features little to no interaction between users. Popular examples of multimedia include video podcasts, audio slideshows and animated videos. Multimedia also contains the principles and application of effective interactive communication such as the building blocks of software, hardware, and other technologies. The five main building blocks of multimedia are text, image, audio, video, and animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simulation</span> Imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time

A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in which simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the simulation represents the evolution of the model over time. Another way to distinguish between the terms is to define simulation as experimentation with the help of a model. This definition includes time-independent simulations. Often, computers are used to execute the simulation.

Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an educational environment, however educational games are games that are designed to help people learn about certain subjects, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand a historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. Game types include board, card, and video games.

Situated learning is a theory that explains an individual's acquisition of professional skills and includes research on apprenticeship into how legitimate peripheral participation leads to membership in a community of practice. Situated learning "takes as its focus the relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs".

Gonzalo Frasca is a game designer and academic researcher focusing on serious and political videogames. His blog, Ludology.org, was cited by NBC News as a popular designation for academic researchers studying video games. For many years, Frasca also co-published Watercoolergames with Ian Bogost, a blog about serious games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video game genre</span> Classification assigned to video games based on their gameplay

A video game genre is an informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than visual or narrative elements. This is independent of setting, unlike works of fiction that are expressed through other media, such as films or books. For example, a shooter game is still a shooter game, regardless of where or when it takes place. A specific game's genre is open to subjective interpretation. An individual game may belong to several genres at once.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visualization (graphics)</span> Set of techniques for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message

Visualization or visualisation is any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Visualization through visual imagery has been an effective way to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas since the dawn of humanity. from history include cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greek geometry, and Leonardo da Vinci's revolutionary methods of technical drawing for engineering and scientific purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business simulation game</span> Video game genre

Business simulation games, also known as economic simulation games or tycoon games, are games that focus on the management of economic processes, usually in the form of a business. Pure business simulations have been described as construction and management simulations without a construction element, and can thus be called simulations. Indeed, micromanagement is often emphasized in these kinds of games. They are essentially numeric, but try to hold the player's attention by using creative graphics. The interest in these games lies in accurate simulation of real-world events using algorithms, as well as the close tying of players' actions to expected or plausible consequences and outcomes. An important facet of economic simulations is the emergence of artificial systems, gameplay and structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AgentSheets</span>

AgentSheets was one of the first modern block-based programming languages designed for children. The idea of AgentSheets was to overcome syntactic challenges found in common text-based programming languages by using drag-and-drop mechanisms conceptualizing commands such as conditions and actions as editable blocks that could be composed into programs. Ideas such as this would go on to be used in various other programming languages, such as Scratch. AgentSheets is used to create media-rich projects such as games and interactive simulations. The main building blocks of AgentSheets are interactive objects, or "agents," that are programmed through rules. Using conditions, agents can sense the user input including mouse, keyboard, and even speech recognition and web page content in more advanced versions. Using actions agents can move, produce sounds, open web pages, and compute formulas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immersion (virtual reality)</span> Perception of being physically present in a non-physical world

Immersion into virtual reality (VR) is a perception of being physically present in a non-physical world. The perception is created by surrounding the user of the VR system in images, sound or other stimuli that provide an engrossing total environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Educational video game</span> Video game genre

An educational video game is a video game that provides learning or training value to the player. Edutainment describes an intentional merger of video games and educational software into a single product. In the narrower sense used here, the term describes educational software which is primarily about entertainment, but tends to educate as well and sells itself partly under the educational umbrella. Normally software of this kind is not structured towards school curricula and does not involve educational advisors.

A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, politics and art. Serious games are a subgenre of serious storytelling, where storytelling is applied "outside the context of entertainment, where the narration progresses as a sequence of patterns impressive in quality ... and is part of a thoughtful progress". The idea shares aspects with simulation generally, including flight simulation and medical simulation, but explicitly emphasizes the added pedagogical value of fun and competition.

Web-based simulation (WBS) is the invocation of computer simulation services over the World Wide Web, specifically through a web browser. Increasingly, the web is being looked upon as an environment for providing modeling and simulation applications, and as such, is an emerging area of investigation within the simulation community.

An instructional simulation, also called an educational simulation, is a simulation of some type of reality but which also includes instructional elements that help a learner explore, navigate or obtain more information about that system or environment that cannot generally be acquired from mere experimentation. Instructional simulations are typically goal oriented and focus learners on specific facts, concepts, or applications of the system or environment. Today, most universities make lifelong learning possible by offering a virtual learning environment (VLE). Not only can users access learning at different times in their lives, but they can also immerse themselves in learning without physically moving to a learning facility, or interact face to face with an instructor in real time. Such VLEs vary widely in interactivity and scope. For example, there are virtual classes, virtual labs, virtual programs, virtual library, virtual training, etc. Researchers have classified VLE in 4 types:

ExploreLearning is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based company which operates a large library of interactive online simulations for mathematics and science education in grades 3–12 called 'Gizmos'. ExploreLearning also makes Reflex, an online, game-based system for math fact memorization. ExploreLearning is a business unit of Cambium Learning Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-generated imagery</span> Application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images

Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in art, printed media, simulators, videos and video games. These images are either static or dynamic. CGI both refers to 2D computer graphics and 3D computer graphics with the purpose of designing characters, virtual worlds, or scenes and special effects. The application of CGI for creating/improving animations is called computer animation, or CGI animation.

Reacting games are educational role-playing games set in the past, with a focus on student debates about great texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procedural rhetoric</span> Game design concept

Procedural rhetoric or simulation rhetoric is a rhetorical concept that explains how people learn through the authorship of rules and processes. The theory argues that games can make strong claims about how the world works—not simply through words or visuals but through the processes they embody and models they construct. The term was first coined by Ian Bogost in his 2007 book Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames.

Immersive learning is a learning method which students being immersed into a virtual dialogue, the feeling of presence is used as an evidence of getting immersed. The virtual dialogue can be created by two ways, the usage of virtual technics, and the narrative like reading a book. The motivations of using virtual reality (VR) for teaching contain: learning efficiency, time problems, physical inaccessibility, limits due to a dangerous situation and ethical problems.

References

  1. ↑ Brusilovsky, Peter (1994), "Explanatory visualization in an educational programming environment: Connecting examples with general knowledge", Human-Computer Interaction, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 876, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 202–212, CiteSeerX   10.1.1.160.9141 , doi:10.1007/3-540-58648-2_38, ISBN   9783540586487
  2. 1 2 "Explorable Explanations". worrydream.com. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  3. ↑ Pavlus, John (November 9, 2011). "After Trying To "Kill Math," An Ex-Apple Designer Aims To Kill Reading". Fast Company. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  4. ↑ "What can a technologist do about climate change? A personal view". worrydream.com. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  5. ↑ "Explorable Explanations". explorabl.es. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Active Essays". www.playfulinvention.com. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Active Essays". wiki.squeak.org. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  8. ↑ "The theory of everything in sandbox city: Will Wright's keynote at ACADIA 2014". Archinect. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  9. ↑ "FAQ | Explorable Explanations". explorabl.es. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Explorable Explanations". Nicky Case's Blog. September 8, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Can Educational Be Fun?". www.cc.gatech.edu. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Nicky Case: Seeing Whole Systems – The Long Now". longnow.org. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  13. ↑ Singley, Mark K. (1991). "Molehill". Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems Reaching through technology - CHI '91. New York, NY: ACM. pp. 439–440. doi:10.1145/108844.108992. ISBN   9780897913836. S2CID   21614588.
  14. ↑ Redmiles, David F. (1993). "Reducing the variability of programmers' performance through explained examples". Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '93. New York, NY: ACM. pp.  67–73. doi: 10.1145/169059.169082 . ISBN   9780897915755. S2CID   13014326.
  15. ↑ "PLATO and the History of Education Technology (That Wasn't)". Hack Education. January 2, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Exploring Emergence". www.playfulinvention.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Reaction-Diffusion Media Wall". www.karlsims.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  18. ↑ "conic section interactive visualisation". upload.wikimedia.org. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Math | Explorable Explanations". explorabl.es. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  20. ↑ Benziane, Chakib (April 3, 2019), A curated list of awesome explorable explanations.: sp4ke/awesome-explorables , retrieved April 5, 2019
  21. ↑ "Programming | Explorable Explanations". explorabl.es. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  22. ↑ Benziane, Chakib (April 3, 2019), A curated list of awesome explorable explanations.: sp4ke/awesome-explorables , retrieved April 5, 2019
  23. ↑ Horti, Samuel (July 3, 2017). "The Evolution of Trust is a cute explain-o-game about cooperation". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  24. ↑ Bliss, Laura (December 10, 2014). "An Immersive Game Shows How Easily Segregation Arises—and How We Might Fix It". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  25. ↑ Glen Chiacchieri, Storytime with Jonathan Blow at PAX East 2016 , retrieved January 21, 2019
  26. ↑ "Inside Einstein's head - an explorable explanation of relativistic spacetime". www.lucify.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Velocity Raptor". testtubegames.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  28. ↑ Admin, Game Lab. "A Slower Speed of Light". MIT Game Lab. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  29. ↑ Joho, Jess (September 2, 2015). "Your brain on anxiety: an interactive explanation with Nicky Case". Kill Screen. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  30. 1 2 Scheiber, Noam (April 2, 2017). "How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  31. 1 2 Evershed, Nick; Ball, Andy; Liu, Ri; Davey, Melissa. "Hooked: how pokies are designed to be addictive". the Guardian. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  32. ↑ Bui, Quoctrung (May 21, 2015). "Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine?". NPR. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  33. ↑ Barry-Jester, Anna Maria (August 4, 2015). "Should Prison Sentences Be Based On Crimes That Haven't Been Committed Yet?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Could 'explorable explanations' help tell a new kind of story?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  35. ↑ "A list of recent newsgames". www.robinkwong.com. February 24, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  36. ↑ Bostock, Mike; Carter, Shan; Tse, Archie (May 2, 2014). "Is It Better to Rent or Buy?". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  37. ↑ Harris, Rich; Popovich, Nadja; team, Kenton Powell on the Guardian US interactive; Harris, Rich; Popovich, Nadja; team, Kenton Powell on the Guardian US interactive. "Watch how the measles outbreak spreads when kids get vaccinated – and when they don't". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  38. ↑ Aisch, Gregor; Cox, Amanda (March 1, 2015). "A 3-D View of a Chart That Predicts The Economic Future: The Yield Curve". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  39. ↑ "What's Really Warming the World?". Bloomberg.com. June 24, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  40. ↑ Roston, Eric (June 2, 2015). "Bloomberg – What's Really Warming the World?". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  41. ↑ Jones, Maya A. (July 1, 2016). "FiveThirtyEight breaks down the more than 33,000 annual U.S. gun deaths". Andscape . Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  42. ↑ King, Ritchie (August 1, 2015). "Science Isn't Broken". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  43. ↑ "PhET Interactive Simulations". PhET. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  44. ↑ "The Parametric Press | Issue 01 Call For Proposals". parametric.press. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  45. ↑ "Idyll". idyll-lang.org. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
  46. ↑ "Observable". observablehq.com. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  47. ↑ "Visualizing quaternions, an explorable video series". eater.net. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  48. ↑ "Neurotic Neurons". ncase.me. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
  49. ↑ GitHub – matryx/calcflow: A virtual reality tool for mathematical modeling!, MATRYX, January 1, 2019, retrieved January 19, 2019
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