Design Guidelines for Learner-Centered Scaffolding on Handheld Computers

许多今天的教育标准，如科学教育，要求学生使用计算工具做实质性的调查为基础的活动，以发展更好地理解科学实践。 面对学校学生与计算机比例低和偶尔接触技术的现实，手持计算机（有时称为PDA）提供了一个有趣的，更普遍的解决方案，以解决计算机访问问题，因为它们的功能越来越多，成本越来越低。 然而，旨在学习的技术也必须支持学习者的需求，并从以学习者为中心的角度设计，为这些工具开发支架，并具有软件功能（例如，提示，过程图），其物理地实现基于文献的概念支架策略（例如，“可视化复杂任务”），旨在支持学习者用心做和学习复杂的新活动和内容。 这个项目探讨了在科学教育的背景下，基于手持软件工具的有效支架的设计和评估。 虽然一个重要的研究社区已经探索了基于桌面的支架，但我们缺乏类似的基于手持支架的设计信息。 由于屏幕尺寸、输入方法、处理器速度等方面的差异，台式计算机的用户界面设计决策不一定“按比例缩小”到手持计算机，因此需要新的设计准则来开发基于手持的支架。 在这项研究中，PI将参与一个既定的以学习者为中心的设计方法，为四个手持科学工具设计支架。 他们将在底特律中学的课堂上测试这些工具，并评估这些脚手架对学生科学工作的影响。 设计指南将与关于支架“影响”的评估相结合（即，学生如何使用单个脚手架来完成工作？）以及支架的“效果”（即，学生在使用搭建好的工具后学到了什么？ 主要成果将是制定和阐明有关手持计算机支架的设计准则。 更广泛的影响：拟议工作的更广泛影响是：通过阐明越来越普遍的“非桌面”计算设备的有效和无效用户界面决策，以及通过提炼一套设计指南，阐明手持工具和评估信息的不同支架方法，来影响HCI研究（来自课堂测试）描述这些支架对学习者的影响;通过将研究活动融入K-12水平的科学教育和教学，在促进教学，培训和学习的同时推进发现：通过将创新技术带到底特律公立学校代表性不足的教室，扩大代表性不足的群体的参与;通过向教师、学校董事会成员和其他教育政策制定者传播由此产生的软件、课程和评估信息，加强对科学和技术的理解。

Many of today's educational standards, such as those for science education, call for student use of computational tools for doing substantive inquiry-based activities to develop a better understanding of science practices. Combating the reality of poor student-to-computer ratio in schools and occasional access to technology, handheld computers (sometimes referred to as PDAs) offer an intriguing, more pervasive solution to the computer access problem given their increasing functionality and decreasing costs. However, technology aimed at learning must also be supportive of learner needs and be designed from a learner-centered perspective to develop scaffolds for those tools, with software features (e.g., prompts, process maps) that physically realize literature-based conceptual scaffolding strategies (e.g., "visualize complex tasks") aimed at supporting learners to mindfully do and learn complex new activities and content. This project explores the design and assessment of effective scaffolds for handheld-based software tools in the context of science education. While a significant research community has explored desktop-based scaffolds, we lack similar design information for handheld-based scaffolds. User interface design decisions for desktop computers do not necessarily "scale down" to handheld computers due to differences in screen size, input methods, processor speed, etc., so new design guidelines are needed to develop handheld-based scaffolds. In this study the PIs will engage in an established learner-centered design methodology to design scaffolds for four handheld-based science tools. They will classroom test those tools in Detroit middle schools, and assess the impact of those scaffolds on student science work. Design guidelines will be coupled with assessment about the "effects with" the scaffolds (i.e., how do students work with the individual scaffolds to do their work?) and the "effects of" the scaffolds (i.e., what did students learn after using the scaffolded tools?). The main outcome will be to develop and articulate design guidelines about scaffolds for handheld computers. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of the proposed work are: to impact HCI research by shedding light on effective and ineffective user interface decisions for the "non-desktop" computational devices that are becoming more prevalent, and also by distilling a set of design guidelines that articulate different scaffolding approaches for handheld tools and assessment information (from classroom testing) describing the impact those scaffolds had on learners; to advance discovery while promoting teaching, training and learning by integrating research activities into science education and teaching at the K-12 level: to broaden participation of under-represented groups by bringing innovative technologies to under-represented classrooms in the Detroit Public Schools; and to enhance scientific and technological understanding by disseminating the resulting software, curricula, and assessment information to teachers, school board members, and other educational policy makers.