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

学习技术曾经受到台式计算机形式因素的限制，新兴的无处不在的计算和通信技术正在产生新的设计，扩大学生和教师可用的活动结构空间。这个项目探讨了这样一个设计框架，嵌入式现象，其中传统的教室计算机作为位置依赖的“门户”，通过学习者协作进行模拟空间现象的调查的能力。嵌入式现象的特点是它们对课堂空间和时间的独特利用。这些模拟的现象旨在占据教室的物理空间，这样不仅现象嵌入在空间中，而且学习者本身也嵌入在现象中。模拟持续运行数天或数周，与常规教学流程同步但不同步，让学习者有机会探索那种需要长时间收集证据的“耐心科学”。该项目包括学习和技术研究两个目标。本计画的学习研究目的是探讨嵌入式现象架构对学生学习、动机与参与的影响。这个问题将通过在地震学和昆虫生态学的高年级小学单元的学习成果的实证研究进行调查。设计团队包括教师，领域专家，技术专家和学习研究人员将设计两个“匹配”版本的每个教学单元，一个使用现有的嵌入式现象应用程序（RoomQuake和RoomBugs，分别），其他采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（分别来自城市和郊区学校）将教授这两个单元的两种变体。在每一个干预措施中，包括科学实践技能的发展，概念理解和对调查的情感立场的结果将使用形成性和总结性评估工具的电池的特点。该项目的技术研究目标是拓宽嵌入式现象应用的渠道，开发和评估新的互动技术，进一步扩大学生和教师的活动结构空间。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，将允许教师配置和调度模拟的现象交付到他们的教室，沿着一个电子现象案例簿，允许教师存储和检索记录的课堂经验与单位。新的互动技术，包括使用掌上电脑作为模拟便携式仪器，模拟的现象，响应声音和运动，并在多个教室共享模拟现象的机制，将设计，实施和试点测试的教室独立于那些参与正式的学习研究。

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.