Innovations in Science and Mathematics Education

Advanced Designs for Technologies of Learning

Michael J. Jacobson, Robert B. Kozma

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780805828467
• eBook ISBN: 9781135706944
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The uses of technology in education have kindled great interest in recent years. Currently, considerable resources are being expended to connect schools to the Internet, to purchase powerful (and increasingly affordable) computers, and on other implementations of educational technologies. However, the mere availability of powerful, globally-connected computers is not sufficient to insure that students will learn--particularly in subjects that pose considerable conceptual difficulties, such as in science and mathematics. The true challenge is not just to put the newest technologies in our schools, but to identify advanced ways to design and use these new technologies to advance learning. This book offers a "snapshot" of current work that is attempting to address this challenge. It provides valuable and timely information to science and mathematics educators, educational and cognitive researchers, instructional technologists and educational software developers, educational policymakers, and to scholars and students in these fields.

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Introduction: New Perspectives on Designing the Technologies of Learning

Michael J.Jacobson
Allison ∼LoBue Group, L.L.C.

Alex J.Angulo
The University of Georgia

Robert B.Kozma
SRI International

From phenomena of seeming simplicity to those of unimaginable complexity, scientific research at the turn of the 21st century is advancing our understandings of the natural world at a breathtaking pace. Many of these findings are not mere incremental accumulations of “scientific facts.” New perspectives are being articulated, dealing with phenomena ranging from quarks to the origin of life, that often challenge our everyday notions of the world. Much of this knowledge is difficult to understand, yet it significantly impacts our daily lives nonetheless, changing the foods we eat, the work we do, and the global conditions of the world in which we live. An understanding of these ideas is important, for both students in school and for an informed citizenry. Unfortunately, scientific knowledge formulated even prior to the 20th century—from Newton’s laws of motion to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection—has proven challenging for students to learn. Making the sciences of the 21st century understandable will no doubt prove to be an even greater challenge.

Addressing challenges such as these has been an important component of the “innovations and explorations” described in the chapters of this volume. To help students deeply learn important scientific and mathematical knowledge, these research projects have designed and developed many innovative technological tools and have explored the consequent learning processes and outcomes associated with the use of these tools. Although the chapters were written independently of each other, an overarching perspective is reflected in all of them. They each argue for the unique facilitative quality that appropriately designed technological tools provide students to not only acquire an understanding of science and mathematics but also to creatively construct, authentically experience, and socially develop and represent their understanding. Overall, this book is intended to provide not only an overview of what is possible with technological learning tools, but also a principled sense for how these tools may be designed, and why they may foster deep understandings of difficult scientific and mathematical knowledge and ideas.

CHAPTER OVERVIEWS

Kozma’s chapter 2 examines the inherent quality of representation and social construction in learning and understanding chemistry. Kozma also argues for the representational and social nature of all scientific knowledge and for the prospects of technology to provide environments that support student thinking, discourse, and understanding. His chapter explores the relations between novice and expert views of chemistry and shows how these relations inform the design principles for the software application MultiMedia and Mental Models in Chemistry or 4M:Chem. “A central theme of the chapter,” he states, “is the way that technology can augment the cognitive and social processes of scientific understanding and learning.” The results from his research exemplify the emerging possibilities of computer software that supports students in the process of collaboratively constructing understandings of chemistry in particular, and of science more generally.

A central assertion of the chapter 3, by Roschelle, Kaput, and Stroup, is that the mathematics of change and variation can be made accessible to a much wider range of students through the design of visualizations and simulations for collaborative inquiry. In contrast with the traditional course of study, they argue that the mathematics of change and variation (MCV) should be included earlier in the curriculum for students of all abilities. Roschelle, Kaput, and Stoup state that “the mission of our SimCalc project is to give ordinary children the opportunities, experiences, and resources they need to develop extraordinary understanding and skill with MCV…. [W]e aim to democratize access to the mathematics of change.”

Jackson, Krajcik, and Soloway summarize their 4 years in developing and testing a model-building software program in chapter 4, “Model-It: A Design Retrospective.” The chapter discusses the project’s founding premises rooted in active learning theory and learner-centered design, the design criteria of the software, and findings from the program’s actual use in a Michigan high school. The purpose of the Model-It program “has been to support students, even those with only very basic math skills, as they build dynamic models of scientific phenomena and run simulations with their models to verify and analyze the results.” Throughout the design and development phases of the project, the researchers attempted to “model” Model-It after the way scientists themselves learn from constructing qualitative and quantitative models of natural phenomena.

Chapter 5, by Jacobson and Archodidou, describes an approach for designing hypermedia tools for learning that they refer to as the Knowledge Mediator Framework (KMF). This framework, which is based on cognitive theory and research, consists of four major design elements (representational affordances of technology, represent knowledge-incontext, reify the deep structure of knowledge, and intra-and inter-case hyperlinks for conceptual and representational interconnectedness) and a set of correlated learning activities. The chapter describes a web-based learning tool derived from this framework, the Evolution Knowledge Mediator, and presents the results of a study of conceptual change and learning with an earlier system based on the KMF. Jacobson and Archodidou also consider the potential for using KMF tools as part of collaborative, online learning activities.

Genetics provides the vehicle for teaching scientific reasoning in the research reported by Horwitz and Christie in chapter 6. They discuss the design and use of a “computer-based manipulative” they call GenScope, and discuss how the program supports scientific thinking by students as they observe and manipulate graphic objects based on an explicit scientific model. The overall goal of the GenScope project is to help students understand not only scientific explanations, but also to gain insight into the nature of the scientific process. Following a discussion of linguistic and pedagogical barriers to learning science in the traditional classroom, GenScope’s open-ended learning environment is proposed as a method for overcoming these difficulties. Horwitz and Christie include an evaluation of GenScope’s effectiveness as an in-theclassroom resource. This chapter also provides a very concise account of one of the most difficult scientific concepts for students to learn—modern genetics.

Slotta and Linn (chap. 7) describe their research into making Internet resources accessible to students as an aid to understanding science. In their discussion of Knowledge Integration Environments (KIE) and Scaffolded Knowledge Integration, they illustrate the use of technology to frame autonomous learning, knowledge integration, and critical thinking skills when approaching content on the Internet. “We focus,” they write, “on those aspects of KIE that support students in critiquing Internet evidence.” Their chapter reports on a study involving eighthgrade science students and how they made sense of the World Wide Web, based on highlights from their Sunlight, SunHEAT! project.

Chapter 8 by Guzdial and Turns focuses on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Guzdial and Turns have studied methods to improve and to monitor improvements in the learning of science and engineering through the use of CSCL environments. In particular, they summarize their work with the CaMILE project (Collaborative and Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments): “Features in our current version of CaMILE make it possible for us to provide students with support for writing notes, support for tracking and monitoring discussion activity, and support for understanding the purpose and context of the discussion.” The authors discuss research into the development of measures that characterize message interactions at a higher level of aggregation than individual messages. They then used these aggregate measures to compare and contrast the use of the CaMILE CSCL tool in multiple classes involving hundreds of students and thousands of notes.

The potential for networked technology in the study of astronomy is a central feature of Sadler, Gould, Brecher, and Hoffman’s chapter 9. They illustrate student use of MicroObservatory, a state-of-the-art project that utilizes remotely accessible telescopic equipment via the Internet. These researchers describe how network technology that allows students to have access to professional quality scientific tools encourages high school student collaboration and the possibilities of promoting long-term interest in astronomy and the sciences. “This technology,” they argue, “has the potential to revolutionize the teaching of science and to attract a new and larger generation of youngsters to become lifelong ‘fans’ of the scientific enterprise.” The new remote telescopes represent advances in current telescope technology, part of a new generation of professional level scientific instruments accessible for students through the Internet.

Means and Coleman, in chapter 10, concerning the GLOBE project, describe ways in which technology can support authentic student participation in scientific investigation. In their discussion of GLOBE research, students are encouraged to collect environmental information and then post the data on the World Wide Web. They note that “GLOBE seeks to promote elementary and secondary school students’ learning of science by involving them in real scientific investigation, following detailed data collection protocols for measuring the characteristics of their local atmosphere, soil, and vegetation.” The lively participation involved in the project is reflected in the 4,000 schools across 55 countries that have signed on to be a part of this effort. Informed by the theoretical perspective of “anchored instruction,” GLOBE has the scientific objectives of the collection of data and the educational objectives of the promotion of science learning and environmental awareness. Their review of the impact that the project has had on students points toward the creative possibilities for authenticating science learning through the use of technology.

Facilitating student’s conceptual understanding of physics and of the scientific inquiry process is the focus of the White and Frederiksen’s chapter 11. The authors discuss their research in the context of a 7-year study in urban classrooms and the progress they made with student learning concerning scientific inquiry goals, processes, and strategies. They argue for the potential that the ThinkerTools software has in assisting student’s understanding of the Newtonian physics of force and motion by way of models and simulations. This software assists students in monitoring and reflecting on their own theory building as well as facilitating conceptual change, scientific inquiry, and further reflection. Based on their research, White and Frederiksen conclude that “a synthesis of cognitive theory with the development of new technological tools and the design of new instructional approaches can transform the nature of science education for both students and teachers.” Furthermore, they propose “[i]t may even play a role in transforming how scientists themselves engage in and think about the scientific enterprise.”

Chapter 12 by Dede, Salzman, Loftin, and Ash represents some of the latest and most extensive research concerning the educational applications of virtual reality technology. Through the experiential nature of virtual reality technology in their project Science Space, they challenge typical naive student intuitions about Newtonian physics, allowing them to “construct new understandings of science” based on their experiences in the virtual environment. Informing the original design and evaluation of their project is a learner-centered philosophy that likewise guides the evolution of their technology. They discuss the learning gains in using virtual technology from the results of their studies and outline recommendations for further research.

TECHNOLOGIES OF LEARNING: THEMATIC STRANDS

As can be seen, the chapters in this volume explore the demanding conceptual aspects of learning science and mathematics—and the varied contexts in which this learning occurs—in a variety of innovative ways. A diversity of content areas, technologies, designs, theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and pedagogies are represented in the chapters. Yet weaving through this diversity of research into the design and use of technological learning tools may be seen at least fourmain thematic strands: representations and symbols, design of technological tools and learning environments, collaborative interactions and learning communities, and assessment and learning processes. This tapestry of thematic perspectives is reflected in varied and rich ways in the chapters.

The theme of representations and symbols is a central one in many of these chapters, one that has two dimensions: external and mental. The range of external representational and symbolic systems covered in these chapters is extensive: calculus, physics, electrostatics, quantum mechanical molecular bonding, chemical equilibrium, genetics, evolution, ecosystems, astrophysics, and engineering. Kozma suggests that there is “an integral relationship between the signs and symbols of a science and the understanding that scientists have of their domain.” Furthermore, to paraphrase his comments about representations and chemists, “using and understanding a range of representations is not only a significant part of what scientists do—in a profound sense it is science.” However, merely using technology to provide external representations of complex scientific knowledge is decidedly not enough. Horwitz and Christie articulate a goal that is shared in the other chapters: “We want our students to grasp not only scientific explanations of phenomena, but also the nature of the scientific process itself. In short, we want to teach them how to think like scientists.”

However, the need to teach students to “think like a scientist” assumes that they often do not think in such a way. Thus a second dimension of the representations and symbols theme concerns mental representations. Slotta and Linn remark that

In our view, students come to science class with a repertoire of models of scientific phenomena as suggested by work of Piaget (1970), diSessa (1988, 1993), and others. We use the term “model” loosely to refer to ideas, conjectures, principles, visualizations, and examples from everyday life. All of these mental constructs are drawn upon by students in support of their reasoning, and we refer to their totality as a “repertoire of models.”

The concern with the learners’ “repertoire of models,” mental representations, or mental models is found in several of the chapters. For example, Kozma is concerned with mental models of chemistry, Roschelle and Kaput with children’s conceptual and linguistic resources, Jacobson and Archodidou with mental models of evolution, Horwitz and Christie with mental schemata or conceptual frameworks, White and Frederiksen with conceptual models of physics, and Dede and associates with causal mental models. The analysis of both domain-specific symbols and students’ mental representations influenced many of the technological design decisions and learning activities described in these chapters.

The second theme is design of technological tools and learning environments. Although these projects have been concerned, first and foremost, with issues of learning, representation, and pedagogy, they have sought to explore ways that technological tools could be designed and used to help address these issues. (This is in contrast to much of the technology and education literature in which “technology” is the focus.) The chapters in this volume depict a richness of technologies that includes simulations and visualizations (e.g., Kozma, this volume; Roschelle & Kaput, this volume; Jackson, Krajcik, & Soloway, Horwitz & Christie, this volume; White & Frederiksen, this volume), hypermedia, the Internet, and the World Wide Web (e.g., Slotta & Linn, this volume; Jacobson & Archodidou, this volume; Means & Coleman, this volume), remote scientific instrumentation (Sadler, Gould, Brecher, & Hoffman, this volume), telecommunications and computer-supported collaborative learning (e.g., Guzdial & Turns, this volume; Means & Coleman, this volume), and virtual and immersive environments (Dede, Salzman, Loftin, & Ash, this volume). As discussed in the respective chapters, these projects are based on principles of design or design frameworks that are grounded on constructivism or sociocognitive theory. Overall, these chapters each share a concern for the principled design of the technologies of learning.

An important subtheme of design of technological tools and learning environments relates to scaffolding, which is articulated in various ways in these chapters. Jackson, Krajcik, and Soloway provide an overview of the literature related to scaffolding, and then propose three categories of technological scaffolding: supportive, reflective, and intrinsic. Supportive scaffolding refers to ways that the software or learning tool assists the learner in doing the task, such as modeling, guiding, or critiquing. Reflective scaffolding helps the learner to reflect on the task, the degree of success at doing the task, how to generalize from the task to other situations, and so on. Their third category of scaffolding, intrinsic, begins to alter the nature of the task by changing the focus of the learner’s attention or by providing alternate conceptualizations for thinking about the task. Other perspectives on scaffolding are reflected in chapters in this volume as well. Jacobson and Archodidou describe hypermedia design features that provide conceptual scaffolding intended to make aspects of the deep structure of knowledge clear and explicit to t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: New Perspectives on Designing the Technologies of Learning
• 2 The Use of Multiple Representations and the Social Construction of Understanding in Chemistry
• 3 SIMCALC: Accelerating Students’ Engagement With the Mathematics of Change
• 4 MODEL-IT: A Design Retrospective
• 5 The KNOWLEDGE MEDIATOR FRAMEWORK: Toward the Design of Hypermedia Tools for Learning
• 6 Computer-Based Manipulatives for Teaching Scientific Reasoning: An Example
• 7 The KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATION ENVIRONMENT: Helping Students Use the Internet Effectively
• 8 Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning in Engineering: The Challenge of Scaling-Up Assessment
• 9 Astronomical Experiences Using Internet-Accessible Remote Instrumentation
• 10 Technology Supports for Student Participation in Science Investigations
• 11 Technological Tools and Instructional Approaches for Making Scientific Inquiry Accessible to All
• 12 The Design of Immersive Virtual Learning Environments: Fostering Deep Understandings of Complex Scientific Knowledge
• Author Index
• Subject Index