The learning of science can be made more like the practice of science through authentic simulated experiences. We have created a networked handheld Augmented Reality environment that combines the authentic role-playing of Augmented Realities and the underlying models of Participatory Simulations. This game, known as Outbreak @ The Institute, is played across a university campus where players take on the roles of doctors, medical technicians, and public health experts to contain a disease outbreak. Players can interact with virtual characters and employ virtual diagnostic tests and medicines
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric RosenbaumEric KlopferJudy Perry
What are the effects of globalization and how are these manifested in local communities and in the learning of science there? These questions are unpacked within one local community in the United States, a place called “Uptown” where I examine the educational opportunities and pathways in science that are available for low-income Black American girls. The data comes from eight years of work both as an after-school science education program director and researcher in Uptown. The results suggest that globalization is taking hold, both in the social and economic circumstances of the community and
This article focuses on understanding how games and immersive participatory simulations, with their focus on doing science, are becoming an emerging type of curricula for supporting science education. It discusses the theoretical frameworks positing that knowing is a contextual and participatory act. The context in which one learns any particular content shapes resultant understandings of that content. Moreover, knowledge and skills in science should be established as an inquiry process and that new technologies and design methodologies can facilitate this process.
Auditory forms of nonpersonal communication have rarely been evaluated in informal settings like parks and museums. This study evaluated the effect of an interpretive audio tour on visitor knowledge and social behavior at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. A cross-sectional pretest/posttest quasi-experimental design compared the responses of audio tour users (n = 123) and nonusers (n = 131) on several knowledge questions. Observations (n = 700) conducted at seven sites within the caverns documented sign reading, time spent listening to the audio, within group conversation, and other social
This study provides a historical overview of the development of the instructional television as a tool within the context of science education. The technology was traced from its beginning as experiments in public service broadcasting by universities and television networks, though closed circuit, cable, and commercially produced science-related programming. The use of the technology as a teaching tool is examined in terms of the concept of scientific literacy and the means by which instructional television helped to accomplish the goals of scientific literacy.
Interest is a powerful motivator; nonetheless, science educators often lack the necessary information to make use of the power of student-specific interests in the reform process of science curricula. This study suggests a novel methodology, which might be helpful in identifying such interests--using children's self-generated questions as an indication of their scientific interests. In this research, children's interests were measured by analyzing 1555 science-related questions submitted to an international Ask-A-Scientist Internet site. The analysis indicated that the popularity of certain
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ayelet Baram-TsabariRicky SethiLynn Bry
It is recognized widely that learning is a dynamic and idiosyncratic process of construction and reconstruction of concepts in response to new experiences. It is influenced by the learner's prior knowledge, motivation, and sociocultural context. This study investigated how year 11 and 12 physics students' metacognition influences the development of their conceptual understandings of kinematics. An interpretive case study approach was used to investigate students working in collaborative groups in the context of an amusement park physics program. The metacognitive character of individual
Science education reform documents call for science to be taught in the manner that students learn best, by conducting hands-on, engaging investigations using simple everyday materials. Often overlooked in the redesign of science education, informal science learning environments such as science centers, museums, and zoos provide students with captivating science experiences that can be related closely to curricular objectives. In this article I examine a cross-section of craft knowledge and research-based literature on sciencelearning beyond the classrom, describe informal science education
This paper discusses three case studies – an exhibition on biodiversity, a hotel water conservation program, and a partnership between a nature center and urban public schools – to establish parameters for designing learning experiences that accommodate the varied worldviews and attitudes of learners. Positive outcomes occurred in all three cases, but could best be interpreted if sub-samples of participants were distinguished based on their readiness to embrace conservation messages. The studies demonstrated the limitations of narrowly defined learning outcomes as benchmarks for success or
This article examines the construction of identity among African American adolescents. Narrative theories of personality help elucidate the complexity of success.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cynthia WinstonDavid Wall RiceBrandi BradshawLloyd DerekLasana HarrisTanisha BurfordGerard ClodimirKarmen KizzieKristin Joy CarothersVetisha McClairJennifer Burrell
In order to name and classify a plant they see, children use their existing mental models to provide the plant with a name and classification. In this study pupils of a range of ages (5, 8, 10, and 14 years old) were presented with preserved specimens of six different plants (strictly, five plants and a fungus) and asked a series of questions about them. Their responses indicate that pupils of all ages mainly recognise and use anatomical features when naming the plants and explaining why they are what they are. However, older pupils are more likely to also use habitat features. For both girls
This study considers the analysis of the content of the conversations of primary school groups at the animated dinosaur models in The Natural History Museum, London. The results are compared with those of the conversations of similar school groups collected at the preserved animal specimens in the museum, and live animals at London Zoo. Particular issues, such as causality and the reality of the specimens, are examined in the context of the three types of exhibits.