K-12 Virtual Labs for Teaching the Science of Geochronology

一个由博伊西州立大学的地球科学家、教学设计和教育技术专家组成的研究小组正在开发一系列虚拟学习活动，以教授地质年代学。地质年代学的定义不仅包括对地质年代的浩瀚的理解，还包括对地质时标的定义，以及为什么知道地球事件的年龄很重要。 该课程正在与爱达荷州数字学习学院合作设计，以便在其在线地球科学课程中实施和评估，但将通过教学资源数字图书馆向全国学生和教师提供。 与爱达荷州数字学习学院合作，实现了以下目标：1）开发一系列虚拟实验室和现场体验（学习对象）供初中和高中学生使用，可以作为地质年代学科学综合课程的一部分，也可以单独使用，专注于为每个活动定义的特定学习目标; 2）创建学习对象，使其符合SCORM标准，并可随时用于学习管理系统，如BlackBoard（R）和Moodle（R）; 3）培训教师掌握地质年代学和使用学习对象; 4）评估学习对象在实现其教育目标方面的有效性。

A research team composed of geoscientists and instructional design and educational technology specialists at Boise State University is developing a series of virtual learning activities to teach the science of geochronology, which is defined to include an understanding not only of the vastness of geologic time, but how the geologic time scale is defined, and why knowing the ages of Earth events is important. The curriculum is being designed in partnership with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy for implementation and evaluation in their on-line Earth Science courses but will be available nationwide to students and teachers through digital libraries of teaching resources. In cooperation with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, the following objectives are being met: 1) Development of a series of virtual labs and field experiences (learning objects) for use by middle and high school students that can be strung together as part of a comprehensive curriculum on the science of geochronology or used separately to focus on specific learning objectives defined for each activity; 2) Creation of the learning objects such that they are SCORM-compliant and can readily be used in learning management systems such as BlackBoard(R) and Moodle(R); 3) Training of teachers in the science of geochronology and the use of the learning objects; and 4) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the learning objects in meeting their educational objectives.