Learning about Complex Systems from the Bottom Up

The topic of learning through collaborative role-playing in computer-based participatory simulations of complex systems in STEM is presented. Participatory simulations are networked classroom activities aimed at learning about complex systems. In the process of learning, students query its underlying structure and explore its spatial, temporal and mathematical patterns in various conditions. The importance of understanding complex systems is highlighted, driving the main question in this chapter: How can we design learning experiences that support students' deep learning of emergent systems? The motivations behind using participatory simulations and their various designs are described as well as some of the more central learning research, cumulating with five studies into designs for such activities in science. Based on this research, eight design principles are introduced and future research directions are proposed.

Using Virtual Labs in an Inquiry Context

The present study employed two different Go-Lab scaffolds/tools. These tools were used by primary school students to carry out successive learning tasks during experimentation. The first tool assisted learners in formulating hypotheses, while the second tool guided students in designing experiments (EDT). Both tools were designed to take into account the trade-offs between structuring and problematizing student inquiry. Our aim was to investigate the effect of each tool separately, as well as the combined effect of the tools in supporting student work. Participants were 41 fifth graders from two classes of a public primary school in Cyprus. They were randomly assigned to four conditions: Condition 1 involved use of both tools, Condition 2 included the hypothesis tool only, Condition 3 included the EDT only, and Condition 4 had no tools provided. Conditions including one of the two tools outperformed the condition with no tools in the corresponding skill scaffolded by the tool. The cumulative effect of both tools seems to have been greater than the effect of each tool separately.

The Use of Complementary Virtual and Real Scientific Models to Engage Students in Inquiry

This chapter reports on a four-year study to change how climate change science is taught and learned in schools. The goal of the Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE) project is to take what is known about reform-based practices, incorporating students' lived experiences into the curriculum, and the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into the classroom. CHANGE uses the following: scientifically realistic text narratives (text stories with local characters, 50-100 years in the future, a local, place-based approach, a focus on the built environment, the use of simulations and games based on scientific data, and a web-based “intermedia” eBook narrative where sections of narrative text alternate with simulations and computer games. The chapter reports on the ways that we have used the above principles to connect classrooms and communities and school science with academic science to facilitate student inquiry into climate science by combining virtual serious educational games with in class, hands-on inquiry using scientific models.

From Wearing to Wondering

Wearable technologies represent a rapidly expanding category of consumer information and communications technologies. From smartwatches to activity tracking devices, wearables are finding their way into many aspects of our lives, changing the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. The rapid adoption of these tools in everyday life hints at the possibilities these devices may hold in school and other educational settings. Drawing on examples taken from a five-year study using wearable fitness tracking devices in elementary and middle school classrooms, this paper presents two examples of how wearable devices can be appropriated for use in school settings. These examples focus on instances where students turned activity trackers into objects of inquiry using data from familiar activities.

Simulations in Chemistry for Conceptual Understanding and Assessment of Student Knowledge

Simulations are dynamic resources that have been found useful for communicating abstract fundamental ideas such as stoichiometry and several other concepts. In this chapter the authors present their recent work on designing and implementing an interactive simulation called Combustion Lab based on reaction stoichiometry - a topic that has continually been a challenge for chemistry learners. Several researchers have reported persistent student misconceptions in stoichiometry. In order to address this challenge, a novel computer simulation was developed to assess student understandings of stoichiometry based on student problem solving performance, and also to promote student conceptual understanding. The Combustion lab was particularly focused on the stoichiometry of these reactions, problem solving, and the relevance of stoichiometry for its everyday applications. Results of this sequential exploratory study show that the simulation was effective in revealing student understanding and student treatment of stoichiometry problems based on analysis of various data collected.

STEM Inquiry Through INPLACE Mobile Games

To make STEM learning meaningful, students need to feel the relevance and authenticity of the learning activity. Games—particularly mobile games—offer a unique opportunity for students to be immersed in collaborative STEM inquiry. INPLACE mobile games combine the best practices of what the games and learning field knows about using the affordances of mobile devices to engage students, to support collaboration, and to promote authentic practice in a discipline. INPLACE is an acronym that stands for Interdependent, Networked, Participatory Learning, Augmented, Collaborative Experience. School Scene Investigators is a game series designed according to the INPLACE framework; students playing it demonstrated higher engagement and scientific inquiry than students in a control activity. Ultimately, INPLACE provides a design framework that teachers and researchers can use for building mobile games that heightens engagement and increases inquiry-based learning.

A Case Study of Infusing Collaborative STEM Inquiry Learning With Available Technology Into Undergraduate Student Learning

This chapter describes the development, launch, and findings of an undergraduate course entitled “Teaching and Learning in the Physical Sciences”. It was a second-year course that introduced students to content commonly taught within a Bachelor of Education program and connected this content to the literature found in the areas of Physics Educational Research and Chemistry Educational Research. It infused inquiry-based STEM learning allowing students to re-examine content and connect to context, while also examining the pedagogical significance and implications. This chapter provides a qualitatively based insight into students' experiences of the course content and students' voices of the transferability of content from this course to others citing lessons learned, implications for physical science students and recommendations for the future offering.

Science Educator Professional Development

Scientific discovery, problem-solving, and hypothesis testing requires observation, data analysis and synthesis of new knowledge. In today's world, this process is highly dependent on computer-based data exploration of high volume, high velocity, and high variety data streams (3HV) However, though the power of 3HV surpasses the amount of information gathered from more familiar lab experiences, data-intensive science has not yet achieved the same impact or prominence in public education. This chapter provides an examination of the Education And Research: Testing Hypotheses (EARTH) Science Educator Professional Development (PD) which was developed to bridge this gap, bringing data-intensive science into the classroom while supporting inquiry learning practices.

Collaborative Learning and Assessment of Science

In order to understand potential applications of collaborative problem solving (CPS) assessment tasks, it is necessary to examine empirically the multi-faceted student performance that may be distributed across collaboration methods and purposes of the assessment. Ideally, each student should be matched with various types of group members and must apply the skills in varied contexts and tasks. One solution to these assessment demands is to use computer-based (virtual) agents to serve as the collaborators in the interactions with students. This paper proposes human-to-agent (H-A) approach for formative CPS assessment and describes an international pilot study aimed to provide preliminary empirical findings on the use of H-A CPS assessment to inform collaborative learning. Overall, the findings showed promise in terms of using H-A CPS assessment task as a formative tool for structuring effective groups in the context of CPS online learning.

The Use of Tablet Technology to Support Inquiry Science for Students Incarcerated in Juvenile Justice Settings

This chapter describes the challenges in implementing science instruction in juvenile corrections settings and present a tablet-based model for meeting the complex challenges. Project RAISE is a Project-based Inquiry Science (PBIS) curriculum designed in the Universal Design for Learning framework. It is developed in a tablet platform, and is designed to meet the unique needs of incarcerated learners. The chapter describes the juvenile justice educational setting, the characteristics of the classrooms, the learners, and the teachers. It provides an overview of one iBook that has been co-designed and tested with incarcerated learners.