We build on theoretical foundations of tool-mediated learning, tool design, and human computer interaction to develop a framework for implicit scaffolding in learning environments. Implicit scaffolding employs affordances, constraints, cueing, and fe
edback in order to frame and scaffold student exploration without explicit guidance, and it is a particularly useful design framework for interactive simulations in science and mathematics. A key purpose of implicit scaffolding is to support a range of educational goals including affect, process, and content. In particular, the use of implicit scaffolding creates learning environments that are productive for content learning and are able to simultaneously support the affective goals of student agency and ownership over the learning process - goals that may not be addressed in more directed learning environments. We describe how the framework is applied in the context of the Energy Skate Park: Basics simulation, a simulation aimed at middle school student learning of energy concepts. Interview data provides an exemplar of the process by which implicit scaffolding can support productive student exploration with a computer simulation. While we present this framework for implicit scaffolding in the context of computer simulations, the framework can be extended and adapted to apply to a range of tool-mediated learning environments.
In a recent study (Martizzi et al. 2012), we used cosmological simulations to show that active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the gas distribution in clusters of galaxies can be important in determining the spatial distribution of stars and dark m
atter in the central regions of these systems. The hierarchical assembly of dark matter, baryons and black holes obscures the physical mechanism behind the restructuring process. Here we use idealized simulations to follow the response of a massive dark matter halo as we feed the central black hole with a controlled supply of cold gas. This removes most of the complexity taking place in the cosmological simulations that may have biased our previous study. We confirm our previous results: gas heated and expelled from the central regions of the halo by AGN feedback can return after cooling; repeated cycles generate gravitational potential fluctuations responsible for irreversible modifications of the dark matter mass profile. The main result is the expulsion of large amounts of baryons and dark matter from the central regions of the halo. According to the work presented here, outflow induced fluctuations represent the only mechanism able to efficiently create dark matter cores in clusters of galaxies.
Giant low surface brightness galaxies (GLSBs) have flat discs extending up to ~100 kpc. Their formation is a puzzle for cosmological simulations in the cold dark matter scenario. We suggest that GLSBs might be the final product of the evolution of co
llisional ring galaxies. In fact, our simulations show that, approximately 0.5-1.5 Gyr after the collision which led to the formation of the ring galaxy, the ring keeps expanding and fades, while the disc becomes very large (~100 kpc) and flat. At this stage, our simulated galaxies match many properties of GLSBs (surface brightness profile, morphology, HI spectrum and rotation curve).
It has long been known that a large fraction of disc galaxies are lopsided. We simulate three different mechanisms that can induce lopsidedness: flyby interactions, gas accretion from cosmological filaments and ram pressure from the intergalactic med
ium. Comparing the morphologies, HI spectrum and m=1 Fourier components, we find that all of these mechanisms can induce lopsidedness in the gaseous component of disc galaxies. In particular, we estimate that flybys can contribute to ~20 per cent of lopsided galaxies. We compare our simulations with the observations of NGC 891, a lopsided, edge-on galaxy with a nearby companion (UGC 1807). We find that the main properties of NGC 891 favour a flyby event for the origin of lopsidedness in this galaxy.
We compare the observed merger rate of galaxies over cosmic time and the frequency of collisional ring galaxies (CRGs), with analytic models and halo merger and collision rates from a large cosmological simulation. In the Lambda cold dark matter (LCD
M) model we find that the cosmic {it merger fraction} does not evolve strongly between 0.2<z<2, implying that the observed decrease of the cosmic star formation rate since z~1 might not be tied to a disappearing population of major mergers. Halos hosting massive galaxies undergo on average ~2 mergers from z~2 up to present day, reflecting the late assembly time for the massive systems and the related downsizing problem. The cosmic {it merger rate} declines with redshift: at the present time it is a factor of 10 lower than at z~2, in reasonable agreement with the current available data. The rate of CRG formation derived from the interactions between halo progenitors up to z=2 is found to be a good tracer of the cosmic merger rate. In the LCDM model the rate of CRGs as well as the merger rate do not scale as (1+z)^m, as suggested by previous models. Our predictions of cosmic merger and CRG rates may be applied to forthcoming surveys such as GOODS and zCOSMOS.
It has been known for a long time that a large fraction of disc galaxies are lopsided. We simulate three different mechanisms that can induce lopsidedness: flyby interactions, gas accretion from cosmological filaments and ram pressure from the interg
alactic medium. Comparing the morphologies, HI spectrum, kinematics and m=1 Fourier components, we find that all of these mechanisms can induce lopsidedness in galaxies, although in different degrees and with observable consequences. The timescale over which lopsidedness persists suggests that flybys can contribute to ~20 per cent of lopsided galaxies. We focus our detailed comparison on the case of NGC 891, a lopsided, edge-on galaxy with a nearby companion (UGC 1807). We find that the main properties of NGC 891 (morphology, HI spectrum, rotation curve, existence of a gaseous filament pointing towards UGC 1807) favour a flyby event for the origin of lopsidedness in this galaxy.
