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Chapters

This textbook is organized into 14 chapters covering 200 concepts.

Chapter Overview

  1. Introduction to MicroSims - Introduces foundational concepts including purpose, structure, interactivity, and reusability.
  2. MicroSim File Organization - Covers directory structure and essential files that comprise a MicroSim package.
  3. Metadata Fundamentals - Introduces metadata concepts, Dublin Core standard, taxonomies, and classification systems.
  4. Dublin Core Elements - Provides detailed coverage of all 15 Dublin Core metadata elements.
  5. JSON and Data Structures - Covers JSON syntax, schema validation, and data quality metrics.
  6. Search Fundamentals - Introduces information retrieval, precision, recall, keyword and boolean search.
  7. Faceted Search and Client-Side Search - Covers faceted search implementation, filter controls, and ItemsJS library.
  8. Embeddings and Semantic Search - Introduces vector embeddings, cosine similarity, and dimensionality reduction techniques.
  9. Data Pipelines and Aggregation - Covers web crawling, GitHub API, repository mining, and data aggregation.
  10. Educational Foundations - Covers grade levels, Bloom's Taxonomy, curriculum standards, and assessment.
  11. Learning Theory and Pedagogy - Explores cognitive load theory, scaffolding techniques, and learning theories.
  12. Visualization Types - Covers visualization types including animations, charts, diagrams, and interactive displays.
  13. User Interface and Controls - Covers interaction levels, control widgets, and layout patterns.
  14. Technical Implementation - Covers JavaScript libraries, responsive design, accessibility, and analytics.

How to Use This Textbook

Chapters are organized to respect concept dependencies - each chapter builds on knowledge from previous chapters. Foundational concepts appear in early chapters, with more advanced topics in later chapters. While you can jump to specific topics of interest, completing chapters in order ensures you have the prerequisite knowledge for each new concept.

Note: Each chapter includes a list of concepts covered. Make sure to complete prerequisites before moving to advanced chapters.