Using Social Simulations in Interdisciplinary Primary Education: An Expert Appraisal

Abstract

Many people recognize that teaching basic skills in primary schools (reading, writing, and arithmetic) is no longer sufficient for pupils in the digital age. Therefore, governments now increasingly ask schools to add other skills (oral, digital) and to create connections between subjects (e.g., use mathematics in history lessons). In this study, we explored how social simulations can be used in primary education to meet these new goals. We conducted an expert appraisal (a qualitative Delphi method) with four experts specializing in innovating primary education. We selected three simulations that were freely available on the web, relevant for pupils’ lives and had a limited number of parameters. They dealt with segregation, gossip spread and population dynamics. We asked the experts to critically discuss these. Afterward, we analyzed the videotaped discussions in terms of affordances and constraints. The results showed that the affordances of social simulations include their broad appeal to students and their capacity to help users explore relevant concerns through an integrative approach (e.g., interpreting graphs, reasoning with parameters, predicting). Also, the experts warned that social simulations can touch on ethical issues that might be stressful for some pupils. If well-orchestrated, the use of social simulations has great potential to fulfill the new primary school goals.