Collaborative Research: Cyber-enabled Learning: Digital Natives in Integrated Scientific Inquiry Classrooms.

学校使用的网络资源与学生在校外使用这些资源的实际情况之间的差距越来越大。本项目探索信息和通信技术作为认知工具的潜力，以吸引学生参与科学探究并促进教师学习。一项超过240小时的综合专业发展计划，以及后续行动，用于确定如何支持教师在课堂教学中有效地使用ICT工具，为学生创造有意义的学习体验，缩小正规和非正规学习之间的差距，并改善学生的学习成果。在第一年，来自犹他州和纽约学区的六名教师准备成为教师领导和顾问。然后，按特点匹配的三组30名教师在两年内以延迟治疗设计提供专业发展和实地测试单位。犹他州立大学和纽约理工学院的生物学家开发了四个模块，满足两个州的科学标准——第一个是环境变化。然后指导教师开发其他模块。项目中使用的关键技术资源是Opensimulator 3D应用服务器（OpenSim），这是一个开源、模块化、可扩展的平台，用于创建具有可定制地形、天气和物理的模拟3D空间。专业发展计划的效果是通过课堂观察来衡量的，使用RTOP和科学教学中的技术使用（TUSI），选择教师和学生的访谈，以及对学生学习的有效评估。外部评估人员评估专业发展活动的质量和网络学习资源的质量，并审查研究的设计和实施。一个顾问委员会将监督这个项目。该项目的主要成果将是深入了解教师在学生日常使用的各种多用户模拟和通信技术的教学中所需要的专业发展。与OpenSim的制定也提供了一个机会来展示规划和准备的水平，进入与选定的网络认知工具，如GoogleEarth和bi的塑造模块。

There is an increasing gap between the use of cyber-enabled resources in schools and the realities of their use by students in out of school settings. This project explores the potential of information and communications technologies (ICT) as cognitive tools for engaging students in scientific inquiry and for enhancing teacher learning. A comprehensive professional development program of over 240 hours, along with follow-up is used to determine how teachers can be supported to use ICT tools effectively in classroom instruction to create meaningful learning experiences for students, reduce the gap between formal and informal learning, and improve student learning outcomes. In the first year, six teachers from school districts in Utah and New York are prepared to become teacher leaders and advisors. Then three cohorts of 30 teachers matched by characteristics are provided professional development and field test units over two years in a delayed-treatment design. Biologists from Utah State University and New York College of Technology develop four modules that meet the science standards for both states -- the first being changes in the environment. Teachers are then guided to develop additional modules. The key technological resource to be used in the project is the Opensimulator 3D application Server (OpenSim), an open source, modular, expandable platform used to create simulated 3D spaces with customizable terrain, weather and physics. The effects of the professional development program are measured by classroom observations using RTOP and Technology Use in Science Instruction (TUSI), selected interviews of teachers and students, and validated assessments of student learning. An external evaluator assesses the quality of the professional development activity and the quality of the cyber-enabled learning resources and reviews the research design and implementation. An advisory board will monitor the project. The principal outcome of this project will be insight into the professional development needed to make teachers comfortable teaching with the kinds of multi-user simulations and communication technologies that students use everyday. The enactment with OpenSim also provides an opportunity to demonstrate the level of planning and preparation that go into fashioning modules with selected cyber-enabled cognitive tools such as GoogleEarth and Biologica.