Enhancing Students’ Scientific Literacy Using Interactive Simulations: A Critical Literature Review

Abstract

Secondary school science teachers have a wide variety of teaching approaches available to them as they support the development of their students' scientific literacy and knowledge of, and about, science. Information technologies, on computers and other devices, offer potentially valuable ways to supplement this 'toolkit' of teaching approaches. This paper critically surveys the research literature exploring the ways in which teachers are using computer-based interactive simulations to enhance their students' scientific literacy and enable students to meet science learning goals. A variety of issues arise from this survey of the literature, and an approach to characterizing the purposes and outcomes of the use of interactive simulations is outlined. Fields in which future research is likely to be fruitful are also discussed.