What is Four in Balance? - PDST

Pupils learn skills and acquire knowledge in simulations. The simulationsmust have a properly balanced design, however – not too structuredand not too amorphous. Pupils must have sufficient prior knowledgeto make any headway in such an environment, and the simulation itselfmust provide scaffolded instruction, i.e. support the pupils and offerthem sufficient guidance (Hagemans, 2008; Van de Schaar, 2009). It takestime to develop a powerful simulation or game. It is also expensive andrequires considerable professional expertise, with technicians, designers,pedagogical experts, and subject specialists all working together (De Jong,2009a).One unusual example of a simulation is a four-dimensional globe that canmove backwards and forwards in time and accurately represents the worldin miniature (cities, countries, oceans). Pupils were allowed to use theglobe to learn topography. This did not work very well, however; pupilsmade better progress studying a textbook, in part because the globe wasnot designed for this particular purpose and could not be used efficiently(Luyten, 2011g).Meaningful contextThe best context for inquiry-based learning is one that is rich andmeaningful. ICT can provide such a context. Pupils at a primary school, forexample, used a digital sensor when studying various subjects to measurelight, sound and temperature (Luyten, 2011a). Other pupils in preparatoryvocational education who wanted to specialize in ICT were given studymaterial in basic subjects (such as Dutch and mathematics) that had beenintegrated into vocational subjects (Claessens, 2011b). In yet anotherexample, a mobile phone was used to bridge the distance between formallearning at school and informal learning outside the classroom (Sandberg,2010). In none of these cases did the use of ICT in a meaningful contextproduce additional learning effects. Additional effects were found,however, when pupils downloaded educational games to their mobilephones. Because they were allowed to take the phones home with them,they continued playing the games after school hours and consequently gotbetter marks.26