Virtual Courseware for Inquiry-based Science Education

这个为期33个月的项目将为6-12年级的学生编写教学材料，并将在成功的虚拟课程项目的基础上，在生物学和地球科学领域额外开展35项在线活动，从而建立一个包含20项活动的生物学在线实验室。这些材料将旨在支持科学教师在课堂上开展探究性学习活动。这些产品将包括基于网络的模拟和辅助材料，涵盖许多生命和地球科学主题，并与国家科学内容标准密切相关。每项活动都包括提供概述的分步指南、开放式模拟以便学生可以根据自己的假设设计和进行实验、基于表现的评估测验、电子文件夹、学生手册和教师指南。教师材料包括在线获取学生按全班平均水平、按学生个人、按具体问题和按学习目标计算的量化结果。教师可以访问学生的电子档案袋，并提供档案袋评估规则。提供了教师指南、内容和背景背景以及实施个人和小组工作的建议。来自洛杉矶学校的教师参与了教学材料的设计和实地测试。一家商业出版商将销售这些材料。

This thirty-three month project will develop instructional materials for grade 6-12 students and will result in thirty-five additional online activities in the areas of biology and Earth science building on the successful Virtual Courseware Project, which resulted in a biology online lab with 20 activities. The materials will be designed to support science teachers in their efforts to implement inquiry-based learning activities in their classrooms. The products will include web-based simulations and supporting materials covering many life and Earth sciences topics and closely tied to the National Science Content Standards. Each activity includes a step-by-step guide that provides an overview, an open-ended simulation so students can design and carry out experiments based on their own hypotheses, a performance-based assessment quiz, electronic portfolios, student manuals and teacher guides. The teacher materials include online access to quantitative results for their students by overall class average, by individual student, by specific question and by learning objective. Teachers can access the students' electronic portfolios and are provided portfolio assessment rubrics. Teacher guides, content and context background and suggestions for implementing for individual and group-based work are provided. Teachers from Los Angeles schools are involved in the design of the instructional materials and in the field testing. A commercial publisher will market the materials.