Drawing-Based Simulation for Primary School Science Education: An Experimental Study of the GearSketch Learning Environment

Touch screen computers are rapidly becoming available to millions of students. These devices make the implementation of drawing-based simulation environments like Gear Sketch possible. This study shows that primary school students who received simulation-based support in a drawing-based learning environment performed better than students who did not receive this support. Furthermore, the students who received this support did better on both direct and delayed posttests. These findings indicate that touch screen devices can be effectively used with drawing-based simulation environments to improve drawing-based primary school science education.