Routledge

Teacher Resources - Chapter 12 - Agenda Strategies

SECTION 1: WEB-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

The chapter is organized around several themes: student experiences with the Internet (powerful activity pedagogies for using the Net), network science projects, and student inquiry(case studies and examples of internet-based projects that involve students in authentic inquiry).

Initial Case Study: Web-Based Teaching, Just Another Progressive Education Fad?

A science teacher questions a science education researhers assertion that the Web might be one of the keys to reforming science education. This is an important case because it is a cautionary note about the euphoria that sometimes surrounds the use of technology in education.

Creating a Web-Based Classroom

You might want to use the brief biographical information about Tim Berners-Lee and his mantra for the using the web, "mind to mind." Berners-Lee, the inventor of the WWW, envisioned the Web as communication through shared knowledge via collaboration among people at work or at home.

Emerging Pedagogical Practices

We focus here on how information and communication technologies are used in the classrooms. Three pedagogical practices are presented:

  • Computer-mediatied communication
  • Computer-supported collaborative learning
  • Wireless interactive learning devices

We've provided information and Web-links to projects that utilize each of the practices.

Inquiry Activity 12.1: Exploring Internet-Based Pedagogies

In this inquiry, students design a web-based activity based on one or more of the Web-Based pedagogies discussed in the text. We recommend that you first work with the students by giving an overview of the Web-based tools. Then have the students identify a goal (STS, science inquiry or science concept) which will be used to develop a Web-based activity using one or more of the web-based tools.

Web-Based Innovations

W've identified a number of web-based pedagogies that you can present to your students as ways that the Internet is being used in classrooms around the world. We've worked with all of these for years, and have found them to be practical and powerful experiences for students.

Outside Communication with Peers and Experts

  • Keypals and Global Classrooms--linking individuals (keypals) or classrooms at distant locations to collaborate with each other.

As seen in the map below, keypals and global classrooms takes advantage of the web in bringing teachers and students together to participate in collaborative projects, inquiries, and activities in which information is shared among participants.

Have your students read the section on keypals and global classrooms, and discuss implications for practice.

Figure 12.1: Global Classrooms--The map shows locations of schools that collaborated with each other as 'global classrooms' by sharing information about different environmental issues.

Keypal/global classroom helpful links:

  • Telementoring--Experts and Question-and-Answer Services--tools to link students with experts and resources created by experts.

In the text we discuss how telementoring can contribute to the goals of a science program by involving students in career opportunities, and involving students with experts in the field. The two sites that are identified below will provide ample resources to help your students design telementoring/expert activities.

Student Collaborative Research

  • Pooled Data Analysis (Network Science)---perhaps the most powerful tool for helping students understand science inquiry, Pooled Data Analysis, A.K.A. "Network Science" typically involves students in the inquiry of a phenomenon (cloud coverage, bird migration, stream analysis, air pollution, soil erosion, etc.), but in collaboration with students at distant sites. I was involved with the creation and development of the Global Thinking Project and the Eco-Connections Project during a 15 year period in which teams of teachers and students from several continents worked together to study global environmental problems. The prototypes explained in the text were field-tested in each of these projects, and many others.

Figure 12.2: Pooled data analysis does not have to involve students from different countries. In fact the blue dots represent the addresses of students in one of my summer courses at Georgia State University, located in Atlanta. At their homes, they collected data for several days on ground level ozone, posted their data on class data table online, and participated in an online discussion of the results, and then followed-up by participating in a face-to-face analysis and discussion of the data and implications for the quality of air in the Atlanta area. This is clearly something that you can do with your students in your classes, or if you are teaching an online course, this project will work beautifully with the students, since they are at distant sites. You can link to Project Ozone.

  • Virtual Field Trips---This is a popular use of the Web in that teachers can engage their students in online virtual field trips by visiting online museums of science, or participating in scientific expeditions (such as The Jason Project). Useful sites for viritual field trip include:

Product Creation and Web Publishing

Publishing on the Web is a powerful way to involve students in communicating the results of their work. Students can publish web pages that summarize their work, or describe the details of projects, and classroom activities. Teachers can use the web to organize instruction, communication among students, and contact with parents.

Social Action Projects---Social aspects of science and science-related social issues provide the basis for social action projects. Social action projects typically are interesting to students because they involve students not only in a science project, but one that engages them in issues that may have personal meaning to the students. I recommend you explore the IEARN site which is linked below:

The Virtual or Online Classroom--The Web can be used to teach entire courses online, or in hybrid form, to provide Web resources for the students in a face-to-face course. As you know more and more states and school districts are now offering students the choice of taking courses online instead of face-to-face courses. There are a number of resources that I have found useful in introducing teachers to world of the virtual or online classroom. Here are few:

Blackboard---a course management system

Nicenet---a free course management system

  • WebCt---a course management system typically used for university courses.
  • Virtual High School---a collaborative project among schools using the virtual school model.
  • Quia---tools to create educational resources
  • DiscoverySchool.com---a site for teachers, students and parents to create online tools for learning

Network Science and Inquiry Projects

The Internet provided teachers will a tool to engage their students in collaborative inquiry projeccts starting in the late 1980s, and over that time period, the protocols for interesting projects has emerged. You can generate a discussion that focuses on the attributes of science projects on the Net:

  • Investigation of "Real Science" and Science-Related Social Issues
  • Students-as-Scientists
  • Students-as-Citizen-Scientists
  • The Role of Data
  • Constructivist Learning
  • Societal Implications of Science
  • Global Learning Community
  • Cross-Cultural Understanding
  • Pedagogical Shifts
  • Collaborative/Cooperative Learning
  • The Role of Technology

Inquiry Activity 12.2: Network Science---Exploring Online Projects

In this inquiry, you students will investigate the attributes of four diferent projects, including:

Other project you might want to have your students explore include:

Establishing an Online Classroom

Helping your students see the value in an online course is to use some elements of the online environment in your own course or seminar. Even if you present a one-day seminar, it is advisable to create a web page that summarizes the seminar, and includes the resources you think will help your audience. In a course, a website is essential. There are many online tools that you can use to create an online environment. These are some that we've found useful in our own work:

  • Blackboard---a course management system
  • Nicenet---a free course management system
  • WebCt---a course management system typically used for university courses.
  • Virtual High School---a collaborative project among schools using the virtual school model.
  • Quia---tools to create educational resources
  • DiscoverySchool.com---a site for teachers, students and parents to create online tools for learning

SECTION 2: SCIENCE TEACHER GAZETTE

Science Teachers Talk: How do you use technology (including the Internet) in your science lessons? (Refer to the Companion Website for these discussions)

Seven teachers from three different continents discuss how they use technology in the classroom.

Problems and Extensions

Use one or more of the Problems and Extensions for classroom discussion, or online project work.

Readings

We've identified some key readings on the role of the Internet in science teaching.

On the Web

We've listed a few sites that should provide jumping off points for you and your students as you explore the Internet and science teaching.