Developing smart device friendly asymmetric simulations for teaching collaborative scientific inquiry

Collaboration is an important feature of scientific practice. Scientists share, discuss and critically argue over different representations of a problem with others when attempting to generate new knowledge. Similarly, collaboration can be beneficial for inquiry-based science learning at school. Successful collaborative learning, however, relies on engaging students in a condition of positive interdependence. In this paper we propose that asymmetric simulations provide an innovative way to establish positive interdependence among students during inquiry learning which will foster the development of their collaboration skills. Asymmetric simulations divide some information or resources necessary to solve a problem unevenly among group members, thereby requiring more equal participation and contribution among all members during collaboration. The asymmetric simulations we developed are available online for free via the Go-Lab portal (golabz.eu) and therefore can be easily integrated into a digital lesson by school teachers. They were created taking into account the small screen sizes of smart devices such as smartphones or tablets, thereby making them convenient for collaborative work in school classrooms.