Learning Scientific Practice in Virtual Environments

9809579计算机技术在地球科学教育中发挥着越来越重要的作用，然而，关于学生如何在虚拟环境中最好地学习的深入研究却缺乏。在美国国家科学基金会的资助下，Prothero为UCSB每季度200至300名学生的海洋学专业本科生地球科学课程创建了一个“虚拟环境”。PI——一位认知心理学家（Mayer）、一位科学教育研究员（Kelly）和一位地球物理学家（Prothero）——将合作确定在这个“虚拟环境”中学习的有效性。要调查的一些问题包括：1)如何利用教育技术来创造一个促进学生对科学理解的虚拟环境？2)使虚拟环境成为有效学习工具的必要特征是什么？3)教育技术如何支持学生对科学实践的学习，比如提出可研究的问题、从证据中辩论、权衡不同的解释？本研究的结果将用于制作面向中学和大学地球科学教师的教师手册。该手册将在网上和必要时以其他形式提供。

9809579 Computer technology is taking an increasingly important role in geoscience education, however in depth studies of how students can best learn from a virtual environment are lacking. With prior NSF funding, Prothero has created a "virtual environment" for an undergraduate geoscience course for UCSB's large oceanography class of 200 to 300 students per quarter. The PI's - a cognitive psychologist (Mayer), a science education researcher (Kelly), and a geophysicist (Prothero) - will collaborate to determine the effectiveness of learning in this "virtual environment". Some of the questions to be investigated include 1) how can educational technologies be used to create a virtual environment that promotes students' understanding of science?, 2) what are the necessary characteristics of a virtual environment that make it an effective learning tool?, 3) how can educational technologies support students' learning of scientific practices, such as posing researchable questions, arguing from evidence, weighing alternative explanations? The results of this research will be used to create a teacher's manual oriented toward middle school and college level teachers of earth science. The manual will be made available on the Web and in other forms as necessary.