2005 — 2009 |
Mcclean, Phillip (co-PI) [⬀] Schwert, Donald Slator, Brian (co-PI) [⬀] Terpstra, Jeffrey Daniels, Lisa Saini-Eidukat, Bernhardt |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Instructional Materials For Teaching Science Through Virtual Environments @ North Dakota State University Fargo
The North Dakota State University World Wide Web Instructional Committee (WWWIC) is funded to develop two multiuser, interactive virtual environments (IVEs) -- the "Geology Explorer" (where students land on a foreign planet to identify rocks and minerals, and build models of geologic structure), and "On-a-Slant" (a virtual reconstruction of a Native American earth lodge village that students explore while learning archeology and anthropology). The former has been used in college level courses and will be adapted to secondary schools; the latter is a new environment under development for the same level. IVEs have been rigorously studied with college level students and the results indicate that IVE students perform higher on various assessments than those exposed to a more traditional instructional approach.
The project has three explicit goals. They are to alter or construct the IVEs to be age-appropriate for 6-12 grade level students by increasing scaffolding and intelligent software tutor capabilities and providing embedded assessment tools; to design standards-based curricula supplementing for both IVEs for middle school and high school classrooms; and to develop a series of online workshops designed to train secondary teachers on the IVE software, familiarize them with the curriculum materials and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas for additional lesson plans and/or software adaptations.
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0.933 |
2006 — 2009 |
Daniels, Lisa Terpstra, Jeffrey Schwert, Donald Slator, Brian [⬀] Saini-Eidukat, Bernhardt |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Pilot Project: Research On Serious Games For Geoscience Education @ North Dakota State University Fargo
Pilot Project: Research on Serious Games for Geoscience Education
This award will expand the educational resources available through The Geology Explorer, an interactive virtual environment (IVE) developed at North Dakota State University for the purpose of teaching geoscience. The "Geology Explorer" program, in which students simulate landing on a newly discovered planet to identify rocks and minerals and model geologic relationships and structures, originated as a college level course now used at multiple universities. The software has been recently modified so as to be age appropriate for use in grades 6 through 12. During this project, two new geoscience modules that can be incorporated into secondary grade level Earth science, chemistry, or math classrooms are being designed and implemented. The first is a probability module using gold exploration as the motivating story. The second module is being developed in collaboration with local chemistry teachers. Standards-based curricula and assessments to support these new modules are also being developed. The effect these new modules have on students' ability to connect skills used in geoscience to those used in other career opportunities and science disciplines and students' attitudes regarding perceived relevance of math and science beyond high school is being evaluated. At the college level, rigorous evaluation has consistently demonstrated that IVE students perform higher on assessments than those exposed to more traditional instruction.
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0.933 |
2006 — 2010 |
Mcclean, Phillip [⬀] White, Alan (co-PI) [⬀] Slator, Brian (co-PI) [⬀] Terpstra, Jeffrey Daniels, Lisa |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Visualization in Biology Education @ North Dakota State University Fargo
The World Wide Web Instructional Committee at North Dakota State University is expanding its existing set of animation-based modules, the Virtual Cell (V Cell) animations available at (http://vcell.ndsu.edu/animations), to include 27 animation-based modules that depict major molecular and cellular biology processes. In addition they are implementing a dissemination system that ensures rapid load time for the large-sized animations files and using the animations as research tools to determine the aspects of animations that best support learning. Seven institutions are helping test these modules by using them in their science courses: North Dakota State University, East Carolina University, Marquette University, Onondaga Community College, University of Colorado, Denver, University of Washington, and Utah Valley State College. These institutions are serving as tests sites to measure the impact of these animation modules on student learning. The studies are specifically focusing on the effectiveness of animation in learning biological processes. The major product developing from this project is an on-line dissemination site that is rich with high quality graphical materials that supports student learning of molecular and cellular biology processes.
The intellectual merit of this project resides in its efforts to improve student learning of complex processes, a major theme in science education. The project is addressing questions relating to the role of animation in supporting learning. Also being researched are the best technologies to deliver complete suites of modern educational modules in a seamless manner to both instructors and students.
The broader impact of this project resides in the development of world-class animation-based modules that support the learning of molecular and cellular processes. The modules have the potential to change the manner in which these processes are taught. The project is also testing the utility of WWW-based and peer-to-peer delivery of educational materials.
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0.933 |