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MicroSim Type Catalog Explorer

Run the MicroSim Type Catalog Explorer MicroSim Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

A MicroSim type is a family of MicroSims that share a rendering library, a data format and an interaction style. The MicroSim Type Catalog groups the generator skill's types by what the learner needs to see: custom simulations, quantitative data, structure and process, time and place, comparison, image-based, assessment and labs, and verified facts. This explorer draws the catalog as a left-to-right hierarchy. The dark box for each family has its own color, and the types in that family use a lighter tint of the same color.

Learning objective: The learner will identify the library, the typical data, and one suitable objective for each MicroSim type in the catalog.

Bloom level: Remember (L1). Bloom verb: identify.

For a Remember objective the MicroSim offers two patterns: an explorer that pairs each type with its library, data and example (hover and click), and a flashcard-style Quiz me mode that hides the type names and asks you to match example objectives to types. Each type's panel also gives a near miss — an objective that sounds similar but belongs to a different type — because telling look-alike types apart is where routing mistakes start.

How to Use

  1. Hover over any light type box to see the library it is built on.
  2. Click a type box. The panel shows a one-sentence definition, the data the type needs, an example objective, and a near-miss objective with the type it actually belongs to.
  3. Click a dark family box to list its types.
  4. Drag any box to move it. Use the navigation buttons to pan and zoom; in fullscreen view the mouse wheel also zooms. Press Fit view to reset.
  5. Press Quiz me. The type names turn into question marks. Read the example objective in the panel and click the type box that fits. The answer is revealed with a green outline (and your wrong choice in red). Press Next question to continue through all 18 types, or Stop quiz to return to exploring.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

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<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/microsims/sims/microsim-type-catalog-explorer/main.html"
        height="662px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Audience

Teachers, instructional designers, learning-technology developers and learning-analytics practitioners (college undergraduate and professional development) who are new to the MicroSim types and libraries.

Duration

15 minutes

Prerequisites

  • What a MicroSim is and what a library is (Chapter 1)
  • The parts of a MicroSim folder (Chapter 2)

Activities

  1. Explore by family (5 min): Click every type in two families of your choice. For each type, write its library and the data it needs.
  2. Near misses (3 min): Read three near-miss objectives and say, in one sentence each, what feature of the objective moves it to the other type.
  3. Quiz (5 min): Run Quiz me through all 18 types. Record your score and the types you missed.
  4. Reflect (2 min): Which two types did you confuse most? Name the single question that separates them.

Assessment

  • The learner can name the library for at least 15 of the 18 types.
  • The learner can state the data each type needs and give an example objective for it.
  • The learner scores at least 14 of 18 in Quiz me.
  • Exit question: "Which two types are both built on vis-network, and what distinguishes them?"

References

  1. Chapter 4: Choosing a MicroSim Type — the type catalog, its families and each type in detail.
  2. vis-network documentation — the network library used for this explorer, including its hierarchical layout.
  3. Chart.js documentation — the library behind the Chart.js and bubble chart types.
  4. Leaflet — the map library behind the Leaflet map type.
  5. Mermaid — the text-to-diagram library behind the Mermaid type.