Simulation Tools to Monitor Inquiry-Based Learning

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The emphasis of science education is shifting away from memorizing facts and moving towards understanding concepts and learning how to do experiments. This new focus is known as inquiry-based learning, and computer technology has played a large role in expanding the diversity of fields in which such learning is possible. In particular, simulation software provides opportunities for students to conduct experiments that would otherwise be too time-consuming, expensive, or simply impossible to carry out. Concurrent with the technology boom, assessment is becoming an increasingly important component of education, both as a way of deciding whether students have mastered a topic, and as a way of judging the quality of instructional materials or teaching methods. Yet there are currently no good technology-based tools for assessing whether simulation software works for inquiry-based learning. This project is developing a prototype for a technology-based set of tools for assessing students' abilities to think critically, understand concepts, and design and conduct experiments. The tools being developed include: 1) Methods of instructing simulation software to create on-the-fly random tests that require students to apply what they have learned to the design and completion of simple experiments.2) Tools to follow students' progress through a laboratory, and modify the trajectory of the laboratory based on the students' actions.3) Tools to track and evaluate the steps taken by a student to solve problems, much as an instructor would ask a student to "show their work" and assign a grade to that work as well as to their final answers.Together, these tools allow teachers to assess how well students have learned an area conceptually (as opposed to most currently used tests which primarily evaluate how many facts a student can recall). They aim to help teachers utilize simulations in the classroom using a much richer inquiry-based methodology, as students are provided with detailed feedback that a single teacher could not possibly give. These tools also allow both educational software developers and potential users of software to test computer labs much more rigorously for their effectiveness across a wide range of students and teaching situations. The tools, or the methods that they pioneer, should be useful well beyond the scope of this project as both assessment and computer technology become increasingly important at all levels of education in the U.S. As a platform for developing assessment tools, this project is developing a new software program for teaching osmosis, diffusion, and related topics such as the formation and use of biological electrochemical gradients.