Solar system and gravity using visual metaphors and simulations

Abstract

Explaining small kids about the basic concepts in physics, arts and social sciences is quite a challenge. The concepts that have been laid in the child's mind during the age of 7--11 actually go a long way in shaping his interest towards the subjects and the grasp they achieve while exploring a particular subject in further depth. Also if the concept has been wrongly taught and gets implanted in an incorrect manner it takes a long time and a lot of effort both from the kid's side and the teacher's side to rectify. Also gathering the attention of the kids (as they are generally known to be hyperactive and highly enthusiastic at this age) can be quite a challenge. However most of the children like to see color, animation and get attracted towards interactive games that are fun to play. Thus simulation and graphical visualization can be used to ease and further improve their understanding towards the subject. Also I feel kids try to relate to their learning when they play with toys, observe their surroundings (nature) etc and use this in their activities further. So by the use of visual metaphors one can make their learning easy and interactive simulations/games will make their learning fun. Use of computer graphics will also help in keeping their interest sustained through out the duration of the class. Here in this paper I have used some real life visual metaphors and have developed simulations based on them. The learning is in a step wise fashion and incremental.