Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 14, No. 3, September 2005 ( C  2005) DOI: 10.1007/s10956-005-7194-0 Using Palm Technology in Participatory Simulations of Complex Systems: A New Take on Ubiquitous and Accessible Mobile Computing Eric Klopfer, 1,2 Susan Yoon, 1 and Judy Perry 1 This paper reports on teachers’ perceptions of the educational affordances of a handheld ap- plication called Participatory Simulations. It presents evidence from five cases representing each of the populations who work with these computational tools. Evidence across multi- ple data sources yield similar results to previous research evaluations of handheld activities with respect to enhancing motivation, engagement and self-directed learning. Three addi- tional themes are discussed that provide insight into understanding curricular applicability of Participatory Simulations that suggest a new take on ubiquitous and accessible mobile com- puting. These themes generally point to the multiple layers of social and cognitive flexibility intrinsic to their design: ease of adaptation to subject-matter content knowledge and cur- ricular integration; facility in attending to teacher-individualized goals; and encouraging the adoption of learner-centered strategies. KEY WORDS: simulations; handhelds; complex systems. INTRODUCTION Since their introduction to the mass market slightly more than a decade and a half ago, hand- held computer use has expanded well beyond their original “personal information management” func- tionality especially in educational circles. Teachers around the world are now capitalizing on the affor- dances these small, inexpensive, mobile tools can offer in a myriad of learning environments. They have been highly touted as the computing platform that can potentially address accessibility issues stemming from economic and structural barriers that make a 4:1 ratio of desktop computers to students in static self-contained “down-the-hall” computer labs a reality in schools (Soloway et al., 2001). Through embedded peer-to-peer communication capabili- ties such as infrared-enabled beaming, peripheral 1 Teacher Education Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed; e-mail: klopfer@ mit.edu devices such as external keyboards and probes, and wireless internet connectivity, educational applications for handhelds have been developed to enhance a diverse number of learning domains. These include scientific data collection and analysis (Bannasch and Tinker, 2002; Metcalf and Tinker, 2004; Tinker and Krajcik, 2001), word processing, language development and concept inscription (Curtis et al., 2002; Ogata and Yano, 2003), and topological representations in mathematics (Goldman et al., 2004; Roschelle and Pea, 2002). Perhaps the greatest research emphasis, how- ever, has been geared toward understanding the role of networked (centralized or peer-peer) handhelds in influencing core computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) skills and abilities, e.g., communi- cation and collaboration (Jipping et al., 2001; Ogata et al., 2001; Zurita and Nussbaum, 2004); decision- making (Relan et al., 2003; Woodruff et al., 2003; Yoon and Woodruff, 2003); personalization of un- derstanding, motivation and engagement (Colella, 2000; Inkpen, 1999; Klopfer et al., 2004); assessment 285 1059-0145/05/0900-0285/0 C  2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.