Promoting Spatial Thinking with Web-based Geospatial Technologies

这个探索性项目将培养中学生的STEM空间思维能力。该项目将为中学教师提供精心设计的地球科学调查和辅助材料，以促进空间思维。该项目将设计、开发和测试使用网络地理空间信息系统（GIS）的课程材料，其中包括先进的可视化和地理空间分析能力。该项目将使研究人员能够研究如何最好地利用网络GIS来促进不同学习者的空间思维和地球科学学习目标。该项目还将分析教育课程材料如何帮助教师为实施基于网络的地理空间科学教学方法做好准备，并记录其对学生学习的影响。该项目的合作伙伴包括ESRI、NSF支持的GeoTech中心和国家教育组织。课程材料将使用空间学习活动的框架和设计原则来开发，这些框架和设计原则结合了创新的空间学习设计模型，并使用了明显促进中学水平学习的教育课程材料。课程模块将很容易适应纳入现有的中学科学课程。空间学习设计模型和新的网络地理信息系统的创建将使学生发展空间思维技能，这是对学习地球科学内容的增强。该项目利用新的网络地理信息系统应用程序和工具，解决了现有地球科学课程材料的不足。该项目将为不同的中学学习者提供以研究为基础的科学学习材料，以促进空间思维。此外，地球科学素养将通过使用设计原则和框架来实现，这些原则和框架包括健全的教育课程材料，不仅促进学生的学习，也促进教师的学习。为学生设计的学习体验将促进国家与全球地球科学问题之间的紧密联系，同时灌输空间思维技能。这项工作将通过一种设计伙伴关系模式得到加强，该模式包括科学教育者、科学家、教学设计师和课堂教师在内的所有课程材料的开发。该项目将通过创建一系列评估工具来促进教育基础设施，这些工具旨在衡量基于网络的地理空间学习和探究式教学在发展地球科学内容知识和空间思维技能方面的有效性。该项目将以重要和有意义的方式推进知识，帮助科学教育界了解学生如何发展空间思维技能，这对于通过新的Web GIS应用学习科学和其他学科至关重要。该项目将使研究人员能够研究如何最好地将基于网络的地理空间技术用于中学科学课程，以促进不同学习者的学习。它还将阐明如何创建教育课程材料和其他专业发展经验，使教师为实施地理空间科学教学方法做好准备。此外，所进行的研究将揭示如何有效地使用网络地理信息系统来影响学生的学习成果。对多样化学习者的关注确保了该项目将影响大量传统上在STEM学科和职业中代表性不足的学生。该项目将更广泛地服务于教育社区，并节省其他团体和商业出版商从头开始使用动态应用程序（如Javascript api）创建Web GIS的时间和费用。

This exploratory project will develop STEM spatial thinking skills of middle school learners. The project will equip middle school teachers with well-designed earth science investigations and support materials to promote spatial thinking. This project will design, develop, and test curriculum materials that use Web Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) that includes advanced visualization and geospatial analysis capabilities. The project will enable researchers to investigate how Web GIS can best be used to promote both spatial thinking and earth science learning goals with diverse learners. The project will also analyze how educative curriculum materials can prepare teachers to implement Web-based geospatial science pedagogical approaches to teaching, and document the impacts on student learning. Partners in the project include ESRI, the NSF supported GeoTech Center, and national education organizations.The curriculum materials will be developed using frameworks and design principles for spatial learning activities that incorporate an innovative spatial learning design model and the use of educative curriculum materials that have demonstrably promoted learning at the middle school level. The curricular modules will be readily adaptable for incorporation into existing middle school science curricula. The spatial learning design model and the creation of a new Web GIS will enable students to develop spatial thinking skills that are an enhancement to learning earth science content. The project addresses a deficiency in existing curricular materials in the earth sciences by taking advantage of newly available Web GIS applications and tools. The project will provide research-based science learning materials designed for diverse middle school learners to promote spatial thinking. In addition, earth science literacy will be enabled through the use of design principles and frameworks that include robust educative curriculum materials to promote not only student learning, but teacher learning as well. The learning experiences designed for students will promote strong connections between national to global earth science issues while concurrently instilling spatial thinking skills. The work will be enhanced through a design partnership model for the development of all curriculum materials that includes science educators, scientists, instructional designers, and classroom teachers. The project will contribute to educational infrastructure by creating a series of assessment instruments designed to measure the effectiveness of Web-based geospatial learning and inquiry instruction on the development of earth sciences content knowledge and spatial thinking skills.The project will advance knowledge in important and significant ways to help the science education community understand how students develop spatial thinking skills that are essential to learning science and other disciplines with new Web GIS applications. The project will enable researchers to examine how Web-based geospatial technologies can best be used in a middle school science curriculum to promote learning with diverse learners. It will also elucidate how educative curriculum materials and other professional development experiences can be created to prepare teachers to implement geospatial science pedagogical approaches. Further, the research conducted will reveal how Web GIS can be used effectively to impact student learning outcomes. The focus on diverse learners ensures that this project will impact a great number of students who are traditionally underrepresented in STEM disciplines and careers. The project will serve the education community more broadly and save other groups and commercial publishers from the time and expense of creating a Web GIS with dynamic applications such as Javascript APIs from scratch.