Exploration-Driven Online Science Education: Habitable Worlds 2.0

社会对气候变化和许多其他挑战的反应取决于公众的理解，即科学不是整齐划一的学科中的事实和确定性的集合，而是一个经常跨越学科、缩小知识不确定性的推理过程。不幸的是，在大多数大型大学里，向非理科生教授科学的方式往往会强化误解。例如，许多学生通过基于传统学科的大型导论课程来满足他们的一般科学要求。虽然其中一些课程非常出色，但它们往往强调事实，而不是科学推理。为了填补这一空白，授课常常辅以实验。然而，当班级规模达到数百人时，实验室往往以脚本化的“食谱”活动为特色，这些活动不能教会学生进行科学推理。在这个项目中，研究人员正在部署和评估一个大规模招生的本科通识教育科学课程，该课程将科学推理和多学科视角置于体验的核心。由于在线、计算机辅助教育（网络学习）的发展，这种模式成为可能。该项目建立在亚利桑那州立大学长达一个学期的“宜居世界”课程的基础上，该课程围绕着寻找地外智慧生命展开。在“我们是孤独的吗？”这个问题的激励下，学生们利用在线教程探索从天文学到可持续发展的关键科学概念，这些教程采用交互式模拟和沉浸式、富媒体的“虚拟实地考察”（VFTs）。视频讲座嵌入在教程中，但作为脚手架而不是核心。这些教程利用一个智能软件平台，对学生的输入做出自适应响应——本质上是一个虚拟导师——并收集学生的行为和输入数据，这些数据对学习研究和课程开发有用。这种可以由教练编程的平台现在已经商业化了。研究人员的论点是，对于大量的学生群体来说，这种模式优于传统的基于讲座的在线和面对面课程。“宜居世界”于2011年秋季试点，到2012年秋季末，将向大约800名亚利桑那州立大学学生提供在线服务。在这个项目中，研究人员与马里科帕社区学院区（MCCD）的教师合作，正在部署和评估一个新版本，“宜居世界2.0”，该版本经过优化，可以扩展到更大、更多样化的学生群体。在修订后的课程中，教程遵循从较少到更多涉及数学的学习进程，并且更好地与在亚利桑那州立大学玛丽卢富尔顿师范学院（MLFTC）注册的职前教师的K-12教育标准保持一致。辅导平台收集的数据被用于研究学生解决问题的方法。研究人员还比较了VFTs与实地考察的有效性，并使用形成性和总结性方法严格评估课程的有效性。鉴于亚利桑那州立大学和mcd的规模，该项目将对全国本科科学教育产生深远的影响。由于“宜居世界2.0”是MLFTC重新设计的教师培训计划的一部分，该计划是美国最大的教师培训计划之一，该项目也可能对K-12教育产生广泛影响。

Society's response to climate change and many other challenges hinges on public understanding that science is not a body of facts and certainties in tidy disciplines, but rather a process of reasoning which often crosses disciplines and which narrows the uncertainties of knowledge. Unfortunately, the way science is taught to non-science students at most large universities tends to reinforce misconceptions. For example, many students satisfy their general science requirement in very large introductory lecture courses based on traditional disciplines. While some of these courses are excellent, they often emphasize facts rather than scientific reasoning. Lectures are often supplemented by laboratories to address this gap. However, when class sizes reach the hundreds, laboratories often feature scripted "cookbook" activities that do not teach students to reason scientifically.In this project, the investigators are deploying and assessing a large-enrollment undergraduate general education science course that places scientific reasoning and multidisciplinary perspectives at the heart of the experience. This model is possible because of developments in online, computer-assisted education (cyberlearning). The project builds on Arizona State University's semester-long "Habitable Worlds" course, which is organized around the search for intelligent life beyond Earth. Motivated by the question "Are we alone?" students explore key science concepts from astronomy to sustainability using online tutorials that employ interactive simulations and immersive, media-rich "virtual field trips" (VFTs). Video lectures are embedded in the tutorials, but as scaffolding rather than as centerpieces. The tutorials utilize an intelligent software platform that responds adaptively to student input--essentially, a virtual tutor--and collects data on students' actions and inputs useful for learning research and course development. Such platforms that can be programmed by the instructor are now becoming commercially available. The investigators' thesis is that for large student populations this model is superior to conventional lecture-based online and face-to-face courses."Habitable Worlds" was piloted in Fall 2011 and will have been offered to about 800 ASU students online by the end of Fall 2012. In this project, the investigators, in collaboration with Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) faculty, are deploying and assessing a new version, "Habitable Worlds 2.0," which is optimized to scale to even larger and more diverse student populations. In this revised course, tutorials follow a learning progression from less to more mathematically involved, and are better aligned with K-12 education standards for pre-service teachers enrolled in ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC). Data collected by the tutoring platform is being used for research on student problem-solving. The investigators are also comparing the effectiveness of VFTs to physical field trips and are rigorously evaluating course effectiveness using both formative and summative methods.Because of the size of ASU and MCCD, this project could have far-reaching effects on undergraduate science education nationwide. Because "Habitable Worlds 2.0" is part of the redesigned teacher preparation program at MLFTC, which is one of the largest teacher preparation programs in the United States, the project is also likely to have a broad impact on K-12 education.