Integrating Computational Thinking in Ecosystem Science Education via Modeling in Immersive Virtual Worlds

研究表明，年轻学生能够推理和理解复杂的科学概念，并能在相对复杂的水平上从事计算机编程。培养对科学和计算的理解有赖于小学阶段的坚实基础，因此，本项目将通过一门关于生态系统的跨学科虚拟现实课程，向三年级学生介绍计算思维(抽象、数据表示和算法)、计算机建模和环境系统思维。课程将帮助学生理解计算建模作为探索和理解生态系统相互作用的核心实践，例如生态系统内栖息地的相互联系和物种生存。将计算机建模整合到基础科学课程中，在学科背景下推进了关于计算思维的重要21世纪学习目标。这项基于设计的研究将探索生命科学、数学和计算的无缝整合，以改善学生的学习和教学，并将极大地促进基础科学、技术、数学和计算机教育，揭示儿童对复杂环境和计算思维概念的理解的重要方面。该项目由STEM计算伙伴关系(STEM C)计划资助，该计划旨在通过跨一个或多个领域的应用研究和开发，推动STEM教与学中计算和计算思维的多学科整合；推动K-12计算的发展；并扩大对计算领域的参与。在教育学、职前教育和在职教师专业发展等关键领域进行了投资。该项目将使用基于设计的研究，通过脚手架计算界面将身临其境的虚拟环境与动手交互建模相结合，该计算界面将在模拟的森林环境中将视觉模型连接到生态系统互动的动态表示。该课程将提供一个受支持的、面向对象的编程环境(类似于Scratch和StarLogo Nova)，并提供一个简单的脚手架模块界面，该界面专门针对生态系统建模进行定制，并专门为年幼的儿童设计。与栖息地和食物网研究相关的学习目标是用系统的观点来教授的，将教学重点从理解静态表示转移到学生与动态计算模型的结果交互。该项目将调查哪些抽象和表现方法为年轻学生提供了最好的支架，学生在多大程度上能够构建、修改和解释生态概念的计算模型；学生在理解生态系统科学中的因果动力学方面取得了多大程度的进展；以及教师如何最好地将跨学科科学和计算课程融入他们的实践中。项目成果将告知如何最好地整合科学内容、科学探究、计算建模过程和计算思维，这些都是STEM计算计划的核心目标。

Research has revealed that young students can reason and understand complex science concepts and can engage at relatively sophisticated levels in computer programming. Developing scientific and computational understanding depends upon a strong foundation in elementary school, thus, this project will introduce third grade students to computational thinking (abstraction, data representation, and algorithms), computer modeling, and environmental systems thinking through an interdisciplinary, virtual reality curriculum on ecosystems. The curriculum will scaffold student understanding of computational modeling as a core practice used to explore and understand ecosystem interactions, such as the interconnection of habitats within an ecosystem and species survival. Integrating computer modeling in the elementary science curriculum advances important 21st century learning goals regarding computational thinking within disciplinary contexts. The design-based research will investigate the seamless integration of life science, mathematics, and computing to improve both student learning and teaching and will contribute substantially to advancing elementary science, technology, mathematics, and computing education that will reveal important aspects of children's understanding of complex environmental and computational thinking concepts. This project is funded by the STEM+Computing Partnership (STEM+C) program that seeks to advance multidisciplinary integration of computing and computational thinking in STEM teaching and learning through applied research and development across one or more domains; advancement of computing in K-12; and broadening participation in computing fields. Investments are made in critical areas of pedagogy, pre-service education, and in-service teacher professional development. The project will use design-based research to combine an immersive virtual environment with hands-on interactive modeling through a scaffolded computational interface that will connect visual models to dynamic representations of ecosystem interactions in a simulated forest setting. The curriculum will provide a supported, object-oriented programming environment (similar to Scratch and StarLogo NOVA) with a simple, scaffolded block interface customized to focus on ecosystems modeling, and designed specifically for younger children. The learning goals related to the study of habitats and food webs are taught using a systems perspective, shifting the instructional focus from comprehension of static representations to consequential student interaction with dynamic computational models. The project will investigate which approaches to abstraction and representation offer the best scaffolding to young students and to what extent students are able to construct, modify, and interpret computational models of ecological concepts; to what extent do students show gains in understanding of causal dynamics in ecosystem science; and how teachers can best incorporate an interdisciplinary science and computing curricula in their practice. Project outcomes will inform how to best integrate science content, science inquiry, computational modeling processes, and computational thinking, which are core objectives of the STEM+Computing program.