Virtual Courseware for Environmental Science Education

生物科学（61）人口增长、工业化和城市化对环境质量和人类健康的威胁越来越大。现在比以往任何时候都更重要的是为大学生提供机会，了解导致环境退化的过程，以及如何避免或减轻这些问题。该项目的目标是在国家一级增加环境科学的探究式学习。该项目计划开发一个“虚拟课件”图书馆-一种互动的、基于网络的软件，使学生积极学习重要的环境概念。虚拟课件是由主要研究人员与分布式学习中心合作设计和实现的。 正在开发六个虚拟课件应用程序。 每个“虚拟应用程序”都是基于Web的，易于访问。每个应用程序也适用于介绍环境科学课程，并加强科学方法。 它是交互式的，直观的，基于查询的，并且是垂直可扩展的，因此它可以被大学生物学专业，普通教育非专业和高中学生使用（模块化和独立）。 项目评估由设计和评估可用性中心进行。 由于该项目的网络性质，传播范围很广。 该项目的成果使环境科学教育更容易获得，促进学习和环境意识，并为降低教育费用提供了可能性。

Biological Sciences (61) Population increase, industrialization, and urbanization are growing threats to environmental quality and human health. It is more important now than ever to provide opportunities for undergraduates to understand the processes that lead to environmental degradation and how these problems can be avoided or mitigated. The goal of this project is to increase inquiry-based learning of environmental science at the national level. This project is a plan for the development of a library of "virtual courseware"-- interactive, web-based software that engages students in active learning of important environmental concepts. The virtual courseware is being designed and implemented by the principal investigators in collaboration with the Center for Distributed Learning. Six virtual courseware applications are being developed. Each "virtual application" is Web-based and easily accessible. Each application is also appropriate for introductory environmental science courses and reinforces scientific methodology. It is interactive, intuitive, and inquiry-based, and is vertically scalable so that it can be used by college biology majors, general education non-majors, and high school students, (modular and self-contained). Project evaluation is being conducted by the Center for Usability in Design and Assessment. Because of the web-based nature of the project, dissemination is widespread. The products of this project are making environmental science education more accessible, promote learning and environmental awareness, and provide the possibility for reducing the costs of education.