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{{short description|Form of
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[File:Parable of the Polygons drag & drop.png|thumb|329x329px|Screenshot from ''[[Parable of the Polygons]]'' by [[Nicky Case]], an explorable explanation that simulates [[racial segregation]], which allows the audience to control how "shapist" the entities in the simulation are.]]
An '''explorable explanation''' (often shortened to ''explorable'') is a form of
== Definition ==
The term "explorable explanation" was first used in passing by [[Peter Brusilovsky]] in a 1994 paper,<ref>{{Citation|last=Brusilovsky|first=Peter|chapter=Explanatory visualization in an educational programming environment: Connecting examples with general knowledge |date=1994 |pages=202–212 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=9783540586487 |doi=10.1007/3-540-58648-2_38|title=Human-Computer Interaction|volume=876|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|citeseerx=10.1.1.160.9141}}</ref> but did not enter into common use until 2011, when [[Bret Victor]] published an eponymous essay<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://worrydream.com/ExplorableExplanations/|title=Explorable Explanations|website=worrydream.com|access-date=
Some of the ideas Victor espoused in the essay occurred to him while during work with [[Al Gore]] on the app version of the 2009 book [[Our Choice]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/1665397/after-trying-to-kill-math-an-ex-apple-designer-aims-to-kill-reading |title=After Trying To "Kill Math," An Ex-Apple Designer Aims To Kill Reading |last=Pavlus |first=John |date=November 9, 2011
The term has since also been characterized as being about learning through play.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explorabl.es/|title=Explorable Explanations|website=explorabl.es|access-date=April 5, 2019
A few
[[Educational video game]]s have an overlap with explorable explanations,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explorabl.es/|title=FAQ {{!}} Explorable Explanations |website=explorabl.es |access-date=March 3, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Seskir|first1=Zeki C.|last2=Migdał|first2=Piotr|last3=Weidner|first3=Carrie|last4=Anupam|first4=Aditya|last5=Case|first5=Nicky|last6=Davis|first6=Noah|last7=Decaroli|first7=Chiara|last8=Ercan|first8=İlke|last9=Foti|first9=Caterina|last10=Gora|first10=Paweł|last11=Jankiewicz|first11=Klementyna|last12=La Cour|first12=Brian R.|last13=Malo|first13=Jorge Yago|last14=Maniscalco|first14=Sabrina|last15=Naeemi|first15=Azad|last16=Nita|first16=Laurentiu|last17=Parvin|first17=Nassim|last18=Scafirimuto|first18=Fabio|last19=Sherson|first19=Jacob F.|last20=Surer|first20=Elif|last21=Wootton|first21=James|last22=Yeh|first22=Lia|last23=Zabello|first23=Olga|last24=Chiofalo|first24=Marilù|title=Quantum games and interactive tools for quantum technologies outreach and education|journal=Optical Engineering|volume=61|issue=8|pages=081809|year=2022|arxiv=2202.07756|doi=10.1117/1.OE.61.8.081809}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref> summarized as:
[[Educational video game]]s have an overlap with explorable explanations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explorabl.es/|title=FAQ {{!}} Explorable Explanations |website=explorabl.es |access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref> They are similar in that both involve a computer simulation that is visualized, and both have the intended goal that the audience learns something. However, in an educational video game, the simulation is not necessarily a simulation of the game's intended learning content.<ref name=":3" /> Instead, learning content in educational video games is usually put in a non-interactive form such as text or voiceover; the educational game then usually has some schedule whereby the audience alternates between seeing the text and, separately, playing a game, usually a game with mechanics from a standard [[video game genre|genre]], such as a [[platformer]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/bruckman_gdc99.html |title=Can Educational Be Fun? |website=www.cc.gatech.edu |access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>▼
{{blockquote|Science-based games [...] primarily focus on creating an experience sparking intrinsic motivation, that is, students play for fun, but learn in the process, as their gaming experience requires learning concepts to proceed or provides an explorative pathway through the game that promotes learning. [...] Explorable explanations (or “explorables”) come at educational games from the opposite direction: instead of “games, but with science communication added,” they are “science communication, but with interactivity added”.}}
Explorable explanations are also distinct from [[Gamification#Education|gamification]],<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://blog.ncase.me/explorable-explanations/|title=Explorable Explanations |date=2014-09-08 |website=[[Nicky Case]]'s Blog|access-date=2019-01-21}}</ref> which has the stated intention of improving the structure of [[Reward system|rewards]] in learning. An explorable explanation may or may not involve rewards, and most involve none.▼
▲
▲Explorable explanations are also distinct from [[Gamification#Education and training|gamification]],<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://blog.ncase.me/explorable-explanations/|title=Explorable Explanations |date=September 8, 2014
== History ==
Board games such as [[The Landlord's Game]] (the precursor to [[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]) involve a simulation and so can be described as analogue precursors to explorable explanations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://longnow.org/seminars/02017/aug/07/seeing-whole-systems/|title=Nicky Case: Seeing Whole Systems
[[File:PLATO chem exp.jpg|thumb|The PLATO computer system, which predates the
Many explorable explanations predate the popular use of the phrase.<ref>{{Cite
The target audience for explorable explanations has historically been limited by available [[Software
Wikipedia has some examples of basic explorable explanations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Conic_section_interactive_visualisation.svg|title=conic section interactive visualisation |website=upload.wikimedia.org |access-date=
== Subject matter ==
The most prevalent examples of explorable explanations concern topics within
Explorable explanations have a bias towards focusing on these topics, and when the subject matter comes from disciplines of [[empirical science]], there is a tendency to focus on [[quantitative research|quantitative models]] from within the discipline. This is true even in the case of explorable explanations about disciplines where quantitative models are less common, such as [[social science]].<ref>{{cite
Additionally, since the simulation requires a [[Visualization (graphics)|visualization]], there is a certain bias towards subject matter close to [[geometry]]. For example, there are at least three explorable explanations about [[special relativity]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lucify.com/inside-einsteins-head/|website=www.lucify.com|access-date=January 21, 2019|title=Inside Einstein's head -
== Use in media ==
Explorable explanations are increasingly being created by
Other newsrooms such as [[Bloomberg Businessweek]], [[The New York Times]], and [[The Guardian]] are also notable for their use of explorable explanations to tell stories, for example covering topics like climate change, drug overdoses, and economics.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https
==Structure==
[[File:PhETCCKScreenshot.pdf|thumb|Screenshot of a Phet simulation, intended for use in a classroom. Since they do not involve a physically
Most explorable explanations provide guidance using [[prose]]. This is the approach used in several explorable explanation [[Creative technology|creation platforms]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://parametric.press/|title=The Parametric Press {{!}} Issue 01 Call For Proposals|website=parametric.press|language=en|access-date=March 3, 2019
== See also ==
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== References ==
<!--- See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] on how to create references using
{{Reflist}}
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* https://distill.pub/, an online [[peer review]]ed based on explorable explanations
* https://beta.observablehq.com, a creation and sharing platform for explorable explanations with a [[notebook interface]]
* https://minutelabs.io/, a set of explorable explanations connected with the YouTube channel [[MinutePhysics]]
* https://github.com/stared/science-based-games-list, a collaborative list of science-based games in physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, health, mathematics, sociology, economy, and humanities
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