CAREER: Embedded Computing and Authentic Inquiry in Middle School Science

从一开始，科学研究就以科学家为他们的研究采购和开发的材料、工具和设备为基础。从20世纪80年代以微型计算机为基础的实验室开始，学校就引入了这种设备。然而，这项新技术经常被用于许多学校科学实验室的工作，在那里，学生进行测量确认实验，而不是基于深入探究的调查。在过去的十年里，课堂机器人的使用在K-12年级的各个年级都很普遍。这些机器人工作的大部分都体现了以探究为基础的科学的特点：学生在构思问题、实验、调试问题和寻求解决方案时高度参与。为什么课堂机器人能成功地激励学生负责自己的工作，而课堂科学却很难引起学生的注意？关键是这个机构掌握在学生手中。向教师和学生提供有能力的、可扩展的和有吸引力的技术也很重要。这个项目将使用和扩展研究技术--方便的板球微控制器--目的是描述并提供材料，这些材料可以很容易地被教师和学生吸收到真正的探究性工作中。该项目包括研究和开发部分。PI将调查初任和实习中学科学教师如何进行他们自己的探究性科学实验，反思和理解他们自己的经历，然后将这些方法带给他们的学生。随后，研究这些教师的学生如何利用板球进行科学探究，以及他们学到了什么，并与对照教室的学生的实践和学习进行了比较。该项目将在计算科学和中学科学内容之间建立深刻的联系，并为广泛的课堂使用开发改进的技术。PI将与他所在大学教育研究生院的教职员工密切合作，并将共同教授学生-教师在其项目中所需的科学方法课程的部分。这些个人和参加专业发展讲习班的其他教师将被邀请参与使用项目材料和方法的课堂试验。该发展计划包括一个国际部分，扩展了PI之前与爱尔兰和德国的领先教育家/研究人员的合作。该项目的智力价值源于其目标是理解和促进师生真正的科学探究，并在计算和中学科学之间建立深刻的联系。它的更广泛影响的潜力是基于其实用的、以课堂为基础的方法，这将确保材料和教学策略可以被广泛采用。

Since its inception, scientific inquiry has been based on the materials, tools, and equipment that scientists procure and develop for their research. Beginning in the 1980s with microcomputer-based laboratories, schools have introduced such equipment. This new technology, however, has often been employed in the fashion of much school science laboratory work, where students perform measurement-confirmation experiments rather than deep inquiry-based investigations. Over the last ten years, the use of classroom robotics has become prevalent across the K-12 grade levels. Much of this robotics work exhibits the characteristics of inquiry-based science: students are highly engaged as they frame problems, experiment, debug problems, and pursue solutions. Why is classroom robotics successful in inspiring students to take charge of their work, while classroom science has trouble getting students' attention?The key is that agency is in the hands of students. Providing capable, extensible and inviting technology to teachers and students is also important. This project will use and extend research technology - the Handy Cricket microcontroller - with the goal of characterizing and then providing materials that can be readily assimilated into authentic inquiry-based work by teachers and students. The project includes research and development components. The PI will investigate how beginning and practicing middle school science teachers perform their own inquiry-based science experiments, reflect on and make sense of their own experiences, and then bring these approaches to their students. Subsequently, how these teachers' students practice science inquiry using Crickets and what they learn will be studied, and compared with the practices and learning of students in control classrooms. The project will create deep linkages between computing science and middle school science content, and develop improved technology for widespread classroom use.The PI will collaborate closely with faculty and staff of his university's graduate school of education, and will co-teach sections of science methods courses required of the student-teachers in its program. These individuals and other teachers who participate in professional development workshops will be invited to be involved in classroom trials using project materials and approaches. The development plan includes an international component, extending the PI's previous collaborations with leading educator/researchers in Ireland and Germany. The project's intellectual merit stems from its goal of understanding and promoting authentic science inquiry by teachers and students, and creating deep connections between computing and middle school science. Its potential for broader impact is based on its practical, classroom-based approach, which will ensure materials and pedagogical strategies that can be employed widely.