Collaborative Research: Supporting whole-class science investigations with spatial simulations

在学习技术一度受到台式计算机外形因素限制的地方，新兴的无处不在的计算和通信技术正在产生新的设计，扩大了学生和教师可用的活动结构的空间。这个项目探索了一个这样的设计框架的能力，嵌入现象，在这个框架中，传统的教室计算机充当依赖于位置的“门户”，通过它，学习者可以合作地对模拟的空间现象进行调查。嵌入现象的独特之处在于其对课堂空间和时间的独特利用。模拟的现象被认为占据了课堂的物理空间，这样不仅现象嵌入了空间，而且学习者本身也嵌入了现象中。这些模拟持续运行数天和数周，与常规的教学流程同步但不同步，使学习者有机会探索那种需要在较长时间内积累证据的“耐心科学”。该项目包括学习和技术研究目标。该项目的学习研究目标是探索嵌入现象框架对学生学习、动机和参与的影响。这个问题将通过对高年级学生在地震学和昆虫生态学方面的学习成果的实证研究来调查。包括教师、领域专家、技术专家和学习研究人员在内的设计团队将为每个教学单元设计两个“匹配”的版本，一个使用现有的嵌入式现象应用程序(分别为RoomQuake和RoomBugs)，另一个使用相同的教学设计和活动集，但没有空间和时间嵌入。在两个学年的课程中，两名教师(城市和郊区学校各一名)将教授这两个单元的两个变体。在每项干预中，将使用一系列形成性和终结性评估工具来表征结果，包括科学实践技能的发展、概念理解和对调查的情感态度。该项目的技术研究目标是扩大对嵌入式现象应用的获取，并开发和评估新的互动技术，以进一步扩大学生和教师可利用的活动结构的空间。为了增加访问，研究小组将建立一个基于互联网的现象服务器，允许教师配置和安排模拟现象交付到他们的课堂，以及一个电子现象案例本，允许教师存储和检索与这些单元的课堂经验记录。将设计、实施新的互动技术，将手持计算机用作模拟的便携式仪器、对声音和运动做出反应的模拟现象，以及在多个教室之间共享模拟现象的机制，并将在不同于正规学习研究性研究的教室中进行试点测试。

Where learning technologies were once circumscribed by the form factor of the desktop computer, emerging ubiquitous computing and communications technologies are giving rise to new designs that expand the space of activity structures available to students and teachers. This project explores the capabilities of one such design framework, Embedded Phenomena, in which conventional classroom computers serve as location-dependent "portals" through which learners collaboratively conduct investigations of simulated spatial phenomena. Embedded phenomena are distinguished by their unique utilization of classroom space and time. The simulated phenomena are purported to occupy the physical space of the classroom, so that not only are phenomena embedded within the space, but also learners themselves are embedded within the phenomena. The simulations run continuously for days and weeks, concurrent but asynchronously with respect to the regular flow of instruction, giving learners the opportunity to explore the kind of "patient science" that requires the accumulation of evidence gathered over extended periods of time.The project includes both learning and technology research objectives. The learning research objective of the project is to explore the impact of the embedded phenomena framework on student learning, motivation, and participation. This question will be investigated through an empirical study of learner outcomes in upper elementary school units in seismology and insect ecology. Design teams including teachers, domain specialists, technologists, and learning researchers will design two "matched" versions of each instructional unit, one using existing embedded phenomenon applications (RoomQuake and RoomBugs, respectively), the other employing the same instructional design and set of activities but without the spatial and temporal embedding. Over the course of two school years, two teachers (one each from an urban and suburban school) will teach both variants of the two units. In each intervention, outcomes including development of skill in science practice, conceptual understanding, and affective stances toward investigation will be characterized using a battery of formative and summative assessment instruments. The technology research objectives of the project are to broaden access to embedded phenomena applications and to develop and evaluate new interaction techniques that could further expand the space of activity structures available to students and teachers. To increase access, the research team will build an Internet-based Phenomenon Server that will allow teachers to configure and schedule simulated phenomena for delivery to their classroom, along with an electronic Phenomenon CaseBook permitting teachers to store and retrieve records of classroom experiences with the units. New interaction techniques involving the use of handheld computers as simulated portable instruments, simulated phenomena that respond to sound and motion, and mechanisms for sharing simulated phenomena across multiple classrooms, will be designed, implemented, and pilot-tested in classrooms separate from those involved in the formal learning research study.