Multimedia Lessons for Interactive Whiteboards

描述(由申请者提供)：为K-12教室购买和使用互动白板(IWB)的人数急剧增加。这些产品促进了参与式教学的使用，这些教学可以解决各种学习风格，并在增强理解力和记忆力方面取得了成果。然而，目前缺乏用于IWB的准备好的、高质量的、基于标准的科学内容。此外，教师缺乏必要的时间、经验和资源来自行开发IWB科学课程。我们将通过教师焦点小组在校内试点测试(具体目标1)来评估我们的IWB原型课程模块--植物与动物细胞的结构与功能的有效性。我们将收集和分析详细的反馈，这些反馈将通知我们需要对软件和课程进行修改。然后，我们将创建并试行另外两个IWB课程模块(具体目标2)。我们的IWB课程模块将提供完整的、预先打包的、随时可用的产品-包括互动科学课程的软件和内容。该软件将适用于任何拥有互动白板的教师，无论是什么品牌。这些互动课程还将通过CD和互联网提供，可在任何计算机上使用。我们将通过教师焦点小组和校内试点测试，在纽约罗切斯特地区的中学生命科学课堂上测试和评估软件及其配套课程。我们将与中学科学教师开展焦点小组，评估软件和课程模块的功能、特点和好处。然后，我们将在覆盖城市、郊区和农村人口统计数据的中学科学课堂上试行IWB课程。我们将收集和分析来自焦点小组和在课堂上试行IWB课程的教师的定量和定性评估数据。我们将利用教师的反馈来根据需要改进和编辑软件和课程组件，以确保它们满足教师和学生的需求。这项拟议的项目意义重大，因为它将对教师有效使用交互式白板的能力产生积极影响，并扩大这项技术对学生表现的影响。这一拟议项目具有创新性，因为将在SBIR第一阶段项目期间开发的软件和互动课程将大大改进目前IWB教授科学的教育产品。 公共卫生相关性：该项目与公共卫生极为相关，无论是为互动白板开发的教育软件平台，还是与之相关的课程内容。这一交互式白板教育软件将允许开展对教授与生命科学和人类健康有关的复杂主题特别重要的活动，这些主题需要互动和探究。课程内容将提高学生对人体的兴趣和了解，并让学生更好地了解涉及他们的健康和与疾病作斗争的决定。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There has been a dramatic growth in the purchase and use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) for K-12 classrooms. These products promote the use of engaging instruction that can address various styles of learning and have demonstrated results in terms of enhanced comprehension and retention. However, there is currently a lack of prepared, high quality, standards-based science content for use on IWBs. Furthermore, teachers lack the necessary time, experience and resources to develop IWB science lessons on their own. We will evaluate the effectiveness of our prototype IWB lesson module, Plant & Animal Cell Structure & Function, through a teacher focus group followed in-school pilot testing (Specific Aim 1). We will collect and analyze detailed feedback which will inform us of modifications that are needed to the software and the lessons. We will then create and pilot test two additional IWB lesson modules (Specific Aim 2). Our IWB curriculum modules will provide complete, prepackaged, ready-to-use products - including the software and the content for interactive science lessons. The software will be usable by any teacher who has an interactive whiteboard, regardless of the brand. These interactive lessons will also be available on CD and via the Internet, for use on any computer. We will test and evaluate the software and accompanying lessons through teacher focus groups and in-school pilot testing in middle school life science classes in the Rochester, NY area. We will conduct focus groups with middle school science teachers to evaluate the functionality, features and benefits of the software and lesson modules. We will then pilot test the IWB lessons in middle school science classrooms spanning urban, suburban and rural demographics. We will collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative evaluation data from the focus groups and from teachers who pilot test the IWB lessons in their classrooms. We will use teacher feedback to refine and edit the software and lesson components as needed to assure they meet the needs of teachers and their students. This proposed project is significant because it will have a positive impact on teachers' abilities to effectively use interactive whiteboards and expand the impact of this technology on student performance. This proposed project is innovative because the software and interactive lessons to be developed during this SBIR Phase I project will be a vast improvement over the educational products currently available for teaching science with IWBs. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project is extremely relevant to public health both in terms of the educational software platform developed for use with interactive whiteboards as well as the associated lesson content. This educational software for interactive whiteboards will allow for engaging activities that are especially important for the instruction of complex topics pertaining to life science and human health, which require interactivity and inquiry. The lesson content will promote enhanced student interest and understanding of the human body and allow students to become better informed concerning decisions involving their health and fighting disease.