Simulation Tools to Monitor Inquiry-Based Learning

科学教育的重点正在从记忆事实转向理解概念和学习如何做实验。这一新的焦点被称为基于探究的学习，计算机技术在扩大这种学习可能的领域的多样性方面发挥了很大作用。特别是，模拟软件为学生提供了进行实验的机会，否则这些实验将过于耗时、昂贵或根本不可能进行。在技术繁荣的同时，评估正在成为教育的一个越来越重要的组成部分，既是作为确定学生是否掌握了一个主题的一种方式，也是一种判断教学材料或教学方法质量的方式。然而，目前还没有好的基于技术的工具来评估模拟软件是否适用于基于探究的学习。该项目正在开发一套基于技术的工具的原型，用于评估学生的批判性思维、理解概念、设计和进行实验的能力。正在开发的工具包括：1)指导模拟软件创建即时随机测试的方法，这些测试要求学生将所学知识应用于简单实验的设计和完成。2)跟踪学生在实验室中的进展的工具，并根据学生的行动修改实验室的轨迹。3)跟踪和评估学生为解决问题所采取的步骤的工具，就像教师要求学生“展示他们的工作”并为该工作和最终答案评分一样。此外，这些工具允许教师评估学生在概念上学习一个领域的情况(而不是目前最常用的测试，主要是评估学生能记住多少事实)。他们的目标是帮助教师使用更丰富的基于探究的方法在课堂上使用模拟，因为学生得到了单一教师不可能提供的详细反馈。这些工具还允许教育软件开发人员和软件的潜在用户更严格地测试计算机实验室对广泛的学生和教学情况的有效性。随着评估和计算机技术在美国各级教育中变得越来越重要，这些工具或他们首创的方法应该远远超出本项目的范围。作为开发评估工具的平台，该项目正在开发一个新的软件程序，用于教学渗透、扩散和相关主题，如生物电化学梯度的形成和使用。

The emphasis of science education is shifting away from memorizing facts and moving towards understanding concepts and learning how to do experiments. This new focus is known as inquiry-based learning, and computer technology has played a large role in expanding the diversity of fields in which such learning is possible. In particular, simulation software provides opportunities for students to conduct experiments that would otherwise be too time-consuming, expensive, or simply impossible to carry out. Concurrent with the technology boom, assessment is becoming an increasingly important component of education, both as a way of deciding whether students have mastered a topic, and as a way of judging the quality of instructional materials or teaching methods. Yet there are currently no good technology-based tools for assessing whether simulation software works for inquiry-based learning. This project is developing a prototype for a technology-based set of tools for assessing students' abilities to think critically, understand concepts, and design and conduct experiments. The tools being developed include: 1) Methods of instructing simulation software to create on-the-fly random tests that require students to apply what they have learned to the design and completion of simple experiments.2) Tools to follow students' progress through a laboratory, and modify the trajectory of the laboratory based on the students' actions.3) Tools to track and evaluate the steps taken by a student to solve problems, much as an instructor would ask a student to "show their work" and assign a grade to that work as well as to their final answers.Together, these tools allow teachers to assess how well students have learned an area conceptually (as opposed to most currently used tests which primarily evaluate how many facts a student can recall). They aim to help teachers utilize simulations in the classroom using a much richer inquiry-based methodology, as students are provided with detailed feedback that a single teacher could not possibly give. These tools also allow both educational software developers and potential users of software to test computer labs much more rigorously for their effectiveness across a wide range of students and teaching situations. The tools, or the methods that they pioneer, should be useful well beyond the scope of this project as both assessment and computer technology become increasingly important at all levels of education in the U.S. As a platform for developing assessment tools, this project is developing a new software program for teaching osmosis, diffusion, and related topics such as the formation and use of biological electrochemical gradients.