Virtual Courseware for Science Education

科学教育虚拟课件

• 批准号: 9752603
• 负责人: Robert Desharnais
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-02-01 至 2001-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9752603&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Virtual; Courseware; Science; Education

The goal of this project is to increase the opportunities for the inquiry-based learning of science at the national level. This proposal is a plan for the development of a library of "virtual courseware"--interactive web-based software that engages students in active learning of important scientific concepts. The virtual courseware library will be designed and implemented by a group of 13 faculty from the California State University system and California Community Colleges. Fifteen virtual courseware applications will be developed: six for biology and three each for chemistry, earth science and physics/astronomy. Each "virtual application" will: (I) be Webbased and easily accessible, (2) be appropriate for introductory science courses, (3) reinforce scientific methodology, (4) be interactive, intuitive, and inquiry-based, (5) be vertically scalable so that it can be used by college majors and nonmajors, and (6) be modular and self-contained. Two prototypes, Virtual FlyLab and Virtual Earthquake, developed by the principle investigators are already be used by thousands of students at over 200 of the nation's colleges and universities. The California State University system recognizes the potential of the virtual courseware paradigm and has committed to matching funds to this project. Project evaluation will be conducted by the Center for Usability in Design and Assessment at California State University, Long Beach. A capstone conference will be organized to encourage the use of the virtual courseware library in the natural science curriculum. Because of the web-based nature of the project, dissemination will be widespread, with the potential to affect many thousands of students. The products of this project will make science education more accessible, promote learning, and provide the possibility for reducing the costs of education. Those three features of virtual courseware are also objectives of the nation's colleges and universities and the National Science Foundation .

该项目的目标是在国家一级增加以探究为基础的科学学习机会。这项建议是一项开发“虚拟课件”图书馆的计划，虚拟课件是一种互动的基于网络的软件，使学生积极学习重要的科学概念。虚拟课件库将由来自加州州立大学系统和加州社区学院的13名教师组成的小组设计和实现。将开发15个虚拟课件应用程序：生物学6个，化学、地球科学和物理/天文学各3个。每个“虚拟应用程序”将：（1）基于网络，易于访问，（2）适合入门科学课程，（3）加强科学方法论，（4）交互式，直观，基于探究，（5）垂直可扩展，以便大学专业和非专业人员使用，（6）模块化，自成一体。两个原型，虚拟飞行实验室和虚拟地震，由主要研究人员开发，已经被全国200多所学院和大学的数千名学生使用。加州州立大学系统认识到虚拟课件范例的潜力，并承诺为该项目提供相应的资金。项目评估将由位于长滩的加州州立大学的设计和评估可用性中心进行。将组织一次顶点会议，鼓励在自然科学课程中使用虚拟课件库。由于该项目的网络性质，传播范围将很广，有可能影响到成千上万的学生。该项目的产品将使科学教育更容易获得，促进学习，并提供降低教育成本的可能性。虚拟课件的这三个特点也是美国高校和国家科学基金会的目标。