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A simulation can be everything ranging from a physical manipulative to a computational model. Therefore,
the purpose of this literature review was to describing the focus of a particular type of simulation as well as the criteria that
defines it. The guiding question for this review of literature is: how simulations
for understanding models support scientific discovery learning in formal undergraduate
engineering education? In particular the focus is on identifying: a) what are the
reasoning processes and skills involved in scientific discovery learning? b) what
problems students may encounter while using simulations for understanding models? c)
under which conditions the use of simulations for understanding models may lead to
successful scientific discovery learning? A portion of my preliminary exam consisted of synthesizing the most relevant literature on the topic of simulations for learning. Identifying the most relevant literature about a very well documented research topic was not an easy task. Therefore I developed a systematic method for identifying the most relevant references. This method consisted of identifying peer-reviewed journal articles by looking into databases such as ERIC, psychinfo, Google Scholar and on websites of research groups who published articles related to simulation tools. For the initial searches I used the following descriptors: simulations, computational simulations, and scientific simulations. After reviewing these articles I conducted a second search following the same method, but this time the descriptors were: scientific discovery learning, and inquiry learning. The second step was the development of a list that would point me to the most relevant articles. The process consisted of identifying the number of citations per article per year and then multiplying that index to the impact of the journal. The impact of the journal article was computed by looking into the Thompson journal impact factor. According to Thomson Scientific Journal Citation Reports (2008), these rankings have been established by computing a ratio between citations and recent citable items published. Based on these metrics and for each reference on my list, I computed an index. This index was assigned by giving a weight according to the impact factor of the journal and normalizing it with respect to the number of citations per year. The result was a list of references ordered by impact. From this list I then selected my seminal articles by looking into variety of topics as well as variety of authors and research groups. This helped me to identify the articles that served as a framework for the development of this review as well as more sources of new references. Developing this systematic procedure was very useful for identifying the most relevant literature in this topic. Also, doing this review pushed me forward in my dissertation topic. |