Virtual Science Evironment for an Oceanography Course

该项目涉及科学素养和知识从研究到课堂的转移。这一倡议允许学生通过收集真实的地球数据、在海底进行真实的观测以及分析和解释所获得的结果来参与科学工作。正在开发供普通教育班和职前教师在课堂上使用的交互式多媒体模块。重点是教授学生做科学的内容和过程。许多调查都会自动评分，并发布到学生的记录中，从而允许教师帮助学生提高认知水平。该项目开发了一个“虚拟科学讲习班”和“虚拟现实大洋中脊实地考察之旅”，这两个项目都建立在最近开发的“我们的动态星球”光盘的基础上，并与之相结合，该光盘由国际和平研究所制作，并得到国家科学基金会的支持。互动的“虚拟科学工作坊”将仿照真实的科学工作坊。它将解决以一种引人入胜的方式向学生提供背景信息、模拟科学家如何根据证据进行辩论以及帮助学生提出自己的实验问题的问题。前往大洋中脊的虚拟现实实地考察将使用正在进行的海脊和喷口研究的最新研究数据，创建一个动态的实地实验室，学生可以在其中探索、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.