Virtual Courseware for Environmental Science Education

（61）人口增长、工业化和城市化对环境质量和人类健康的威胁越来越大。现在比以往任何时候都更重要的是为本科生提供机会，让他们了解导致环境退化的过程，以及如何避免或减轻这些问题。该项目的目标是在国家一级增加以探究为基础的环境科学学习。这个项目是一个开发“虚拟课件”图书馆的计划，这是一种基于网络的交互式软件，可以让学生主动学习重要的环境概念。虚拟课件由主要研究人员与分布式学习中心合作设计和实施。目前正在开发六个虚拟课件应用程序。每个“虚拟应用程序”都是基于web的，易于访问。每个应用程序也适用于环境科学入门课程，并加强科学方法。它是交互式的、直观的、基于查询的，并且是垂直可扩展的，因此它可以被大学生物专业的学生、通识教育非专业的学生和高中生使用（模块化和独立的）。项目评估由设计和评估可用性中心进行。由于该项目是基于网络的，因此传播范围很广。该项目的产品使环境科学教育更容易获得，促进学习和环境意识，并为降低教育成本提供了可能性。

Biological Sciences (61) Population increase, industrialization, and urbanization are growing threats to environmental quality and human health. It is more important now than ever to provide opportunities for undergraduates to understand the processes that lead to environmental degradation and how these problems can be avoided or mitigated. The goal of this project is to increase inquiry-based learning of environmental science at the national level. This project is a plan for the development of a library of "virtual courseware"-- interactive, web-based software that engages students in active learning of important environmental concepts. The virtual courseware is being designed and implemented by the principal investigators in collaboration with the Center for Distributed Learning. Six virtual courseware applications are being developed. Each "virtual application" is Web-based and easily accessible. Each application is also appropriate for introductory environmental science courses and reinforces scientific methodology. It is interactive, intuitive, and inquiry-based, and is vertically scalable so that it can be used by college biology majors, general education non-majors, and high school students, (modular and self-contained). Project evaluation is being conducted by the Center for Usability in Design and Assessment. Because of the web-based nature of the project, dissemination is widespread. The products of this project are making environmental science education more accessible, promote learning and environmental awareness, and provide the possibility for reducing the costs of education.