Science Investigation: Virus! An interactive experiment in scientific thinking and process
Virus! …is an interactive computer simulation of the spread of an infectious virus through a population. The simulation uses Palm Pilot technology, and is part of the PDA Participatory Simulations effort of the Teacher Education Program, Massachsuetts Insitute of Technology (M.I.T.), Cambridge, MA.
Participatory Simulation! The previous “wearable computer badge” has been replaced by… the PDA Participatory Simulation!
Let's begin...
Turn the device ON press the button
Enter your name. When told to, press “Start”
You will now see this screen: Important From this point forward, only click the buttons as you are instructed. …otherwise you might get out of sync with the simulation!
A happy face means that you appear to be healthy – you are not showing evidence of any virus infection.
It is time to MEET EACH OTHER You “meet” another by holding your Palm device near another device as shown, and then ONE PERSON clicks on the “MEET” button. The device will show the names of those whom you’ve met. The names of those you meet will be listed here only ONE PERSON clicks the MEET button
When you’ve met all you intend to meet, click the “READY” button to LOCK your data. Now you cannot send or receive any more “meetings”.
Raise your hand if you become “sick” with the virus. Wait a few minutes…. observe what happens to everyone. If you become sick, you will hear a sound and see a “sick” face. Raise your hand if you become “sick” with the virus. HEALTHY SICK
What did you OBSERVE? ? ? Make a list of everything you observed about what happened. Do not leave out any details. You are searching for clues to a mystery!
Continuing the Investigation Formulate hypotheses about what is happening in this game. Pick a single hypothesis to investigate. Devise an experiment to test the hypothesis. Conduct the experiment (start “New Game”) Record observations. Repeat this entire process until the mystery is solved.
End