Internet Environments For Science Education

Internet Environments for Science Education synthesizes 25 years of research to identify effective, technology-enhanced ways to convert students into lifelong science learners--one inquiry project at a time. It offers design principles for development of innovations; features tested, customizable inquiry projects that students, teachers, and professional developers can enact and refine; and introduces new methods and assessments to investigate the impact of technology on inquiry learning. The methodology--design-based research studies--enables investigators to capture the impact of innovations in the complex, inertia-laden educational enterprise and to use these findings to improve the innovation. The approach--technology-enhanced inquiry--takes advantage of global, networked information resources, sociocognitive research, and advances in technology combined in responsive learning environments. Internet Environments for Science Education advocates leveraging inquiry and technology to reform the full spectrum of science education activities--including instruction, curriculum, policy, professional development, and assessment. The book offers: *the knowledge integration perspective on learning, featuring the interpretive, cultural, and deliberate natures of the learner; *the scaffolded knowledge integration framework on instruction summarized in meta-principles and pragmatic principles for design of inquiry instruction; *a series of learning environments, including the Computer as Learning Partner (CLP), the Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE), and the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) that designers can use to create new inquiry projects, customize existing projects, or inspire thinking about other learning environments; *curriculum design patterns for inquiry projects describing activity sequences to promote critique, debate, design, and investigation in science; *a partnership model establishing activity structures for teachers, pedagogical researchers, discipline experts, and technologists to jointly design and refine inquiry instruction; *a professional development model involving mentoring by an expert teacher; *projects about contemporary controversy enabling students to explore the nature of science; *a customization process guiding teachers to adapt inquiry projects to their own students, geographical characteristics, curriculum framework, and personal goals; and *a Web site providing additional links, resources, and community tools at www.InternetScienceEducation.org

Science teachers come in many varieties, but they share a common goal: to nurture learners. Over the past decade, we have learned a great deal about how to do this effectively. Of all this new (and some not so new) knowledge, what strikes me as most important is that learning occurs best within a context. Still, as obvious as that may seem, it is relatively rare in our high school science classrooms. The problem, of course, is that it is not easy to create a learning experience with hands-on relevance to the science under discussion. Science teachers, in addition to not having the the time, for the most part do not have the expertise or readily available resources. The solution lies in finding ways to bring scientists into the teaching/learning equation. Scientists teamed with teachers and their students represent a very real and rich opportunity to involve students in real science as practiced. Imagine a research book that gives examples of honest, science-research experiences for science-oriented students. What's more, imagine a book that includes examples where students are collaborating with scientists from all over the world on research projects, in person or via the Internet. Internet Linksfor Science Education does just that. It explores the role of the Internet and technol ogy in working student-scientist partnerships.

Offers an analysis of complexity in learning environments from a cognitive perspective. This book makes specific suggestions for educational practice on complexity. It discusses theoretical accounts and empirical findings about learning, the learner, and learning environments.

This book shares the lessons learned by a large community of educational researchers and science teachers as they designed, developed, and investigated a new technology-enhanced learning environment known as WISE: The Web-based Inquiry Science Environment. WISE offers a collection of free, customizable units on topics central to the science standards as well as guidance on how to exploit the Internet to improve learning and instruction in the science classroom (grades 6-12). Hundreds of teachers and over 100,000 students have learned from WISE projects tA01ght in English, Norwegian, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.

There is a trend to offer courses by virtual means. This approach has definite advantages. For example, virtual programs target professionals who would otherwise have to leave their jobs to pursue the degree. An enormous proportion of universities are in the process of developing courses in a virtual environment. This book deals with virtual environments for teaching and learning. The chapters can be considered to be representative of the many approaches taken and the diversity of applications. The different perspectives and different solutions adopted are the result of intense research in various countries in the area of e-learning. Contents: Use of Virtual Worlds to Teach the Sciences (B M Slator et al.); Traditional vs. Technology-Integrated Distance Education (Z Erlich et al.); Facilitators and Inhibitors of E-Learning (J Liu et al.); Developing and Accessing Adaptive Internet-Based Courses (R M Carro et al.); Towards Intelligent Media-Oriented E-Learning Environments (M Kayama & T Okamoto); An Intelligent Tutoring System for Student Guidance in Web-Based Courses (B uzdemir & F N Alpaslan); Automatic Generation of Problems in Web-Based Tutors (M V Belmonte et al.); The Design of Internet-Based Interactive Learning Models Using Agents and Their Applications (T Ichimura et al.); Supporting Personalization in Distance Education Virtual Communities (E Gaudioso & J G Boticario); An Intelligent System for Capturing Presentation on Desktop Manipulations C Supporting for Video Contents Production (Y Nakamura et al.). Readership: Academics and researchers in education and computer science."

Readership: Trainee teachers; educational policy-makers; school management personnel; information and communication technology coordinators; computing teachers; academics.

"The book provides an overview of the state-of-the-art developments in the new and emerging field of science education, called virtual science centers"--Provided by publisher.

Designed to support appropriate use of technology for teaching and learning, this reader-friendly resource helps school leaders create, implement, and maintain effective instructional technology policies.