Sodaconstructing an Understanding of Physics: Technology-Based Engineering Activities for Middle School Students

In this paper we describe a study that investigates whether - and how $authentic recreations of engineering practices can help students develop conceptual understanding of physics. We focus on the design-build-test cycle used by professional engineers in simulation-based design. In this experiment, middle school students worked for 10 hours to solve engineering design challenges using SodaConstructor - a Java-based microworld - as a simulation environment. As a result of the experiment, students learned about center of mass. Our data further suggest that in the process of simulation-based design, rapid iterations of the design-build-test cycle progressively linked students´ interest in the design activities and understanding of the concept of center of mass. We suggest that these rapid iterations of the design-build-test cycle functioned as exploratoids: short fragments of exploratory action in a microworld that cumulatively develop interest in and understanding of important scientific concepts