Virtual Science Evironment for an Oceanography Course

该项目涉及科学素养和从研究到课堂的知识转移。 这一举措使学生能够参与科学工作，收集真实的地球数据，对海底进行真实的观测，并分析和解释所获得的结果。 目前正在为普通教育班和中学教师的课堂使用开发互动式多媒体模块。 重点是教学生做科学的内容和过程。 许多调查是自动评分和张贴到学生的记录，从而允许教师帮助学生在更高的认知水平的理解。 该项目开发了一个“虚拟科学讲习班”和“大洋中脊虚拟现实实地考察”，这两个讲习班都是在最近开发的“我们的动态星球”光盘的基础上进行的，并与之相结合，该光盘是由PI在国家科学基金会的支持下制作的。 互动的“虚拟科学工作坊”将仿照真实的科学工作坊。 它将解决以引人入胜的方式为学生提供背景信息的问题，模拟科学家如何从证据中论证，并帮助学生提出自己的实验问题。 到大洋中脊的“虚拟现实实地考察”将使用正在进行的脊和喷口研究的最新研究数据来创建一个动态的实地实验室，学生可以在那里探索，收集数据和分析他们的发现。

This project addresses science literacy and knowledge transfer from research to the classroom. This initiative allows students to participate in the work of science by collecting real Earth data, making authentic observations on the sea-floor, and analyzing and interpreting obtained results. Interactive, multimedia modules for a general education class and also for preservice teacher use in their classrooms is being developed. The emphasis is on teaching students both content and the process of doing science. Many of the investigations are automatically graded and posted to the students' records, thereby allowing instructors to help students in higher cognitive levels of understanding. The project develops a "Virtual Science Workshop", and "Virtual Reality Field Trip to the Mid-Ocean Ridges", both of which build on, and integrate with, the recently developed "Our Dynamic Planet" CD-ROM, created by the PI, with support from NSF. The interactive "Virtual Science Workshop" will be modeled after a real science workshop. It will address the issues of providing students with background information in an engaging way, modeling how scientists argue from evidence, and helping students to pose their own experimental problem. The "Virtual Reality Field Trip" to the mid-ocean ridges will use the latest research data from ongoing ridge and vent studies to create a dynamic field laboratory where students can explore, gather data, and analyze their findings.