MOTIVATION: Networks are used to relate topological structure to system dynamics and function, particularly in ecology systems biology. Network analysis is often guided or complemented by data-driven visualization. Hive one of many network visualizations, distinguish themselves as providing a general, consistent and coherent rule-based representation to motivate hypothesis development and testing. RESULTS: Here, we present HyPE, Hive Panel Explorer, a software application that creates a panel of interactive hive plots. HyPE enables network exploration based on user-driven layout rules and parameter combinations for simultaneous of multiple network views. We demonstrate HyPE's features by exploring a microbial co-occurrence network constructed from forest soil microbiomes. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: HyPE is available under the GNU license: https://github.com/hallamlab/HivePanelExplorer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Exploratory learning environments, such as virtual labs, support divergent learning pathways. However, due to their complexity, building computational models of learning is challenging as it is difficult to identify features that (i) are informative with respect to common learning strategies, (ii) abstract similar actions beyond surface differences, and (iii) differentiate groups of learners. In this paper, we present a visualization tool that addresses these challenges by facilitating a novel analytic approach to aid in the knowledge engineering process, focusing on five main capabilities: data-driven hypotheses raising, visualizing behavior over time, easily grouping related actions, contrasting learners' behaviors on these actions, and comparing the behaviors of groups of learners. We apply this analytic approach to better understand how students work with a popular interactive physics virtual lab. By splitting learners by learning gains, we found that productive learners performed more active testing and adapted more quickly to the task at hand by focusing on more relevant testing instruments. Implications for online virtual labs and a broader class of complex learning environments are discussed throughout.