Using Diverse Multi-Media Strategies to Promote Meaningful Learning in Physics, Geology, and Biology for Prospective Elementary Teachers

在圣地亚哥州立大学，每年大约有450名小学教师选修一门或多门专门设计的物理、地质或生物本科课程。这些课程包括广泛的课堂讨论，动手实验，协作学习和创造性地使用计算机。 在NSF支持下获得的计算机设备使课程教师能够开发和集成更先进的多媒体，以许多新的和令人兴奋的方式增强学生的科学学习体验。这门物理课程使用新的计算机和另一个项目开发的功能强大的新软件，帮助学生在物理学的各个领域建立概念模型。该软件为知识构建和物理现象模拟提供了工具。学生在小组中工作，通过使用想法容器，电子期刊，公告牌和万维网资源来建立物理理解，以促进有意义的对话作为学习的一部分。他们对实验结果进行预测，并用实际设备和计算机模拟来测试他们的预测。地质学课程通过加强和进一步发展称为TREES（地球科学教育教学资源）的万维网网页，进一步将动手协作学习与多媒体和万维网资源结合起来。光盘被用来探索地球科学，学生的实地经验被用来创建虚拟实地考察，可在网络上。生物学课程通过让学生运用经验知识构建语义网络来促进有意义的学习。使用新的多媒体工具和最新版本的SemNet软件，学生能够构建包含图像、QuickTime电影和Web资源的网络，所有这些都存储在CD上并在Web上提供。所有这三门课程的开发工作成果正通过许多渠道广泛传播，包括网页、其他教师培训项目、专业会议和出版物。将特别努力与加州州立大学系统的其他教师共享资源，该系统每年毕业近3,000名未来的K-6教师。

At San Diego State University, about 450 preservice elementary teachers take one or more specially designed undergraduate courses in either physics, geology or biology each year. These courses incorporate extensive class discussion, hands-on experimentation, collaborative learning and the use of computers in creative ways. The computer equipment obtained with NSF support are enabling the course instructors to develop and integrate more advanced multimedia to enhance the science learning experiences of the students in many new and exciting ways. The physics courseis using the new computers with powerful new software developed on another project to help students construct conceptual models in various domains of physics. This new software provides tools for knowledge construction and simulations of physics phenomena. Students working in groups build physics understanding by using idea containers, electronic journals, bulletin boards and World Wide Web resources to promote meaningful conversations as part of learning. They make predictions about experimental outcomes and test their predictions with both actual apparatus and computer simulations. The geology course is furthering integration of hands-on collaborative learning with multimedia and World Wide Web resources through enhancement and further development of the World Wide Web page called TREES (Teaching Resources for Education in Earth Science). CD-ROMs are being used to explore Earth Science, and student field experiences are being used to create virtual field trips that are available on the Web. The biology course is promoting meaningful learning by engaging students in using their experiential knowledge to construct semantic networks. Using new multimedia tools and the latest version of the software SemNet, students are able to build networks that incorporate images, QuickTime movies and Web resources all stored on CD and made available on the Web. Results of development efforts in all three courses are being disseminated widely through many channels, including Web pages, other teacher enhancement projects, and professional meetings and publications. A particular effort will be made to share resources with other faculty in the California State University system, which graduates nearly 3,000 future K-6 teachers every year.