The Classroom of the Sea

提案编号：HRD-0099230机构：康涅狄格大学首席研究员：Ivar Babb题目：“海洋课堂（COS）“摘要“海洋课堂（COS）”是一个为期三年的综合项目，旨在解决聋人学习者在科学方面的许多特殊需求。 在美国，每一千名学龄儿童中就有一名是聋人或听力障碍者，这些学习者在认知和语言发展方面往往落后于听力正常的同龄人。 COS将通过科学家、教育工作者和学生的伙伴关系解决这些问题，以及聋人学习者的特殊交流需求，旨在加强初中和高中科学教育的教学。 项目工作人员将把研究和教育结合起来，利用科学发现的兴奋来激励学生，提供情境学习机会，并确定需要与美国手语相结合的科学和技术概念，以加强对聋人学生的科学教育。位于康涅狄格大学的科学教育中心一直与美国聋人学校（ASD）合作，成功地推进聋人学生的科学教育。 这种互动是由于ASD参与Aquanaut方案而开始的，Aquanaut方案是澳大利亚海洋研究中心的一个教育推广方案，为聋人学习者提供了一个利用视觉技术，包括声纳、机器人、计算机和其他海洋取样装置进行实际研究的机会。 该项目将提供专业知识和基础设施，以开发基于标准的科学课程和基于问题的实验室和实地实验，评估这些方法的有效性，同时通过语言增强提高聋人学习者的科学教学能力。海洋课堂计划的目标是：（1）利用高度跨学科的海洋科学为聋哑学生制定综合科学课程;（2）提供真实世界的海洋学研究机会，以丰富课程; 3）开发在科学技术教学中优化技术符号和美国手语使用的流程; 4）调整和开发技术，向聋人社区、聋人学生教育工作者和其他人传播课程、语言增强策略和研究成果;及5）为听障学生日后投身科学及科技事业作好更佳准备。海洋科学服务由两个综合元素组成-“海洋科学中的科学”及“通讯服务”。 该计划的前提是，学生，特别是耳聋等残疾学生，可以通过以实用的方式学习科学来实现高度的科学素养，即在真实的学习环境中。 这将通过研究海洋环境的许多方面（即学科）来实现。 海洋课堂的第二个主要内容是“交流机会”，它将强调通过手语进行科学教学的功能性交流，并将涉及识别美国手语中缺乏明确符号的概念和术语，以及有效使用美国手语的语法特征。 将开发和测试适当的技术，以实施和传播该方案的所有要素，在海洋课堂项目中研究和展示的关键方案组成部分不仅将使聋人学习者受益，而且可以应用于学校方案，以加强所有学生的教育，特别是那些有其他残疾或英语是第二语言的学生。

Proposal # HRD-0099230Institution: University of ConnecticutPrincipal Investigator: Ivar BabbTitle: "The Classroom of the Sea (COS)"ABSTRACT"Classroom of the Sea (COS)" is a comprehensive three-year project that addresses many of the special needs of deaf learners in science. About one in every thousand school age children in the U.S. is deaf or hard of hearing and these learners often lag behind their hearing peers in cognitive and language development. COS will address these issues, as well as the special communication needs of deaf learners, through a partnership of scientists, educators, and students that aims to enhance both teaching and learning in middle and high school science education. The project staff will integrate research and education and draw upon the excitement of scientific discovery to motivate students, provide situated learning opportunities, and identify the scientific and technical concepts that need to be integrated with American Sign Language to enhance science instruction to deaf students.For the past four years the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) located at the University of Connecticut has been collaborating with the American School for the Deaf (ASD) to successfully advance science education for deaf students. This interaction was initiated by ASD's participation in the Aquanaut Program, an educational outreach program of NURC that provided deaf learners an opportunity to conduct hands-on research using visual technologies, including sonars, robots, computers and other marine sampling devices. This project will provide the expertise and infrastructure to develop a standards-based science curriculum and problem-based lab and field experiments, evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches, while simultaneously improving the ability to teach science to deaf learners through language enhancement.The objectives of the Classroom of the Sea program are to: 1) develop an integrated science curriculum for deaf students using highly interdisciplinary marine science; 2) provide real-world oceanographic research opportunities to enrich the curriculum; 3) develop processes for optimizing the use of technical signs and American Sign Language in science and technology instruction; 4) adapt and develop technologies to disseminate the curriculum, language enhancement strategies, and research results to the Deaf community, educators of deaf students, and others; and 5) better prepare deaf students to pursue careers in science and technology.COS is comprised of two integrated elements - Science Through Marine Science" and Communications Access". The program is based upon the premise that students, and particularly students with disabilities such as deafness, can achieve a high degree of scientific literacy by learning science in a practical manner, i.e. within authentic learning environments. This will be achieved by studying the many facets (i.e. disciplines) of the marine environment. The second major element of the Classroom of the Sea involves "Communications Access," which will emphasize functional communication in teaching science through sign language and will involve the identification of concepts and terms that lack clear signs within American Sign Language (ASL) and the effective use of ASL grammatical features. Appropriate technologies will be developed and tested to implement and disseminate all elements of the program.The critical program components studied and demonstrated in the Classroom of the Sea project will not only benefit deaf learners, but can be applied in school programs to enhance the education of all students, especially those with other disabilities or those for whom English is a second language.