The visual, temporal, and aural affordances of interactive digital media enhance the communication and understanding of abstract information by engaging viewers in concrete, sensory experiences. However, educators still typically rely on the printed page to deliver content. Unfortunately, static communication often presents complex information simultaneously. As a result, people are commonly inundated with abstract, detailed data which requires reflection, and the patterns in content are invisible. To response to the natural modes of perception and processing which learners prefer, there is an increasing need for research that explores the educational value of representing abstract information concretely by utilizing interactive digital media.
How can the interactive, digital representation of information patterns, inherent and often hidden in traditional presentations of scientific concepts, reveal a set of design strategies that facilitate concrete learning?
To address this question, components of the problem must be considered:
> What is meant by 'pattern' and how can it be expressed visually, temporally, and aurally?
> How can time, motion and sound be used to represent, and appropriately match, the content of abstract concepts in a digital, interactive environment?
> Through interaction, what can a user gain from accessing scientific concepts through visual, temporal, and aural representations, as opposed to textual and/or numerical representations?