A Situated Examination of a GK-12 Case Study at Technology Center of DuPage (TCD) for Participatory Evaluation of Scientific Visualization Tools in the Education of Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) disciplines
Bharat Mehra
(b-mehra1@uiuc.edu)
(not ready to use)
Coauthors
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Keren B. Moses (kmoses@uiuc.edu) , Bertram Bruce (chip@uiuc.edu), Robert Fredres (bobf@daoes.tec.il.us) |
ASK
Partner Projects
| Math Science Technology Education |
Subject Areas
| Education, Educational Technology, Science |
Grade Levels
Unit Keywords
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participatory evaluation; GK-12 project; scientific visualization; situated context, Technology Center of DuPage (TCD) |
Rationale of the Unit
The GK-12 project is an NSF-funded undertaking to support University of Illinois graduate students in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines to collaborate with campus faculty and participating K-12 teachers to integrate the use of computer-based modeling, scientific visualization, and informatics in science and mathematics education. The goal of this inquiry unit is to document the situated context for developing participatory evaluative tools appropriate for assessment of the scientific visualization strategies adopted at Technology Center of DuPage (TCD)
(http://www.csd99.k12.il.us/northregistrationguide/technology/ ), an educational institution that is a partner in the GK-12 project.
The role of situated evaluation in this project are two-fold:
- To evaluate the use of scientific modeling and visualization tools in the education of SMET disciplines in K-12 settings; and
- To document the impact of collaborative social dynamics between graduate students (fellows), K-12 teachers, high school students, and university faculty.
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Background and Resources
For the original GK-12 project website, see http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Divisions/eot/gk12/index.html
- For the new GK-12 website draft under development, see http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Divisions/eot/gk12/temp/
Important ideas and concepts in Evaluation
- Sense-making (how people make and unmake of sense of the world: B. Dervin) see http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/
- Situated evaluation (innovation-in-use: Bruce & Rubin, 1993), see http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~chip/sit-eval.shtml
- Examples (scenarios, critical incidents, and inquiry)
- Role of "inquiry" units as tools within collaborative educational environments for scientific education owing to their resource sharing and information-exchange potential.
Important sources for Mathematics Visualization
- For additional information about GK-12 work at TCD and lots of online visualization resources (mathematics, electronics, thermodynamics) see website of Keren B. Moses at http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~kmoses/research/index.html
- TCD Mathematics Education Site at http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/dildine/tcd_files/
- National Library of Virtual Manipulatives for Interactive Mathematics at http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/enu/navd/topic_t_1.html
- Visual Fractions at http://www.visualfractions.com/
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Resources and supplement materials
- EdGrid, funded by the Department of education's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology program, is a consortium of organizations committed to developing, testing, and disseminating systematic approaches to integrate the use of computer-based modeling and scientific visualization in science and mathematics education.
EdGrid homepage (http://www.eot.org/edgrid )
Potential explorations
Scenarios
- Barriers being faced in meeting existing goals;
"Textboks aren't doing it, high school students are visual learners"
- Recently experienced situations (with or without) use of scientific modeling;
- Positive/negative (typical) situations experienced;
- Potential role of modeling and scientific visualization;
- Current resources being sought;
- Strategies perceived to be effective for improvement;
- Perceptions of how the technology will work? |
Activities and Open-ended problems
Progress development: The following section documents activities being undertaken during different stages of the project.
1. Understanding the existing context ('Mapping' the domain)
Sources: My reactions/observations from the meeting with the fellow-mentor (October 4, 2.00pm); first school visit (October 16, 6.00am-6.30pm) with fellow-mentor; TCD website (http://www.csd99.k12.il.us/northregistrationguide/technology/ ).
The school: TCD provides an alternative high school environment to juniors and seniors studying in DuPage County schools, who come and study for half-a-day and take approximately 1-2 courses per semester. Thirteen high school districts are involved in TCD's cooperative undertaking to provide wide-ranging career education programs and vocational training. TCD provides a practical focus of study and prepares students for real work situations. TCD also allows students to work on hands-on projects in building, construction, and other disciplines that are based on real-life learning experiences. Students attend for 2 1/2 hours during morning or afternoon each day. 21 programs in seven career areas are offered at TCD, some of which are: Building and Machine Group (Pre-architectural & Pre-engineering CAD; Construction Trades; and Machine Tool), Business Group (Computer Information Systems; Data Entry Occupations; Office Systems Technology; and Travel and Tour Service), Communications Group (Graphic Communications; and Multimedia & Television Production), Health Services Group (Certified Nurse Assistant; Medical & Health Careers; and Medical Laboratory Assistant), Mechanical Group (Auto Body Repair & Refinishing; Automotive Technology; and Aviation Maintenance Technology), Personal Services Group (Child Care; Cosmetology; and Culinary/Pastry Arts), and Technical Group (Electronics and Computer Technology; Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration; Network Technician; and Residential Appliance Technology).
Nature of classes: For the GK-12 project, the fellow is working with a teacher in Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC). The fellow attends morning and afternoon classes once every week (approximately ? students). The fellow is observing teaching methods, curriculum materials, and getting a feel for the classroom setting as well as doing hands-on project work to bend sheet metal.
The process: Following the class lessons from the assigned books and studying the class materials distributed (handouts, tests), the fellow is building a collection of computer-based tools and/or tutorials in basic math, electronics, thermodynamics, fluid flow, heat transfer, etc. (see fellow website http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~kmoses/research/index.html ). During our first site visit to the school, the fellow introduced the collection of online resources to the teacher and "walked through" some tools to provide examples of what could be done. The idea is to present a range of tools to the teacher and let the teacher decide which tools are most appropriate.
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Dialogues, Discussions, and Presentations
1. Understanding the existing context ('Mapping' the domain)
Sources: My reactions/observations from the meeting with the fellow-mentor (October 4, 2.00pm); first school visit (October 16, 6.00am-6.30pm) with fellow-mentor; fellow's website (http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~kmoses/research/index.html ).
Ongoing explorations
- What are the perceptions of the teacher, the fellow, and the students about the existing situation and the potential role of technology in the future?
Some important thoughts:
- Probably, both computer and paper-based tools will be introduced.
- Owing to the nature of the school, creation of hands-on activities with an angle towards practical applications will be important: Challenge is to identify appropriate visualization tools that may support such an endeavor; also the teacher has to be convinced about the relevance of using those as a part of the curriculum or outside its structure.
- In consultation with the teacher, the fellow may identify and select specific visualization tools and apply those towards teaching basic science and mathematics concepts to the students. These will be outside the structure of the curriculum materials; however, they will be the simple theories that form the foundation for the complex subjects that the students are learning via the curriculum. The fellow has found that the students do not have adequate knowledge of the "basic science behind what they are doing"; lack math background beyond basic mathematcis (students do not take science classes at their home schools); and may not have learnt simple concepts like fractions, decimals, and scientific notation. Teaching such simple concepts that fall outside the realm of the curriculum via scientific visualization tools will strengthen foundations of students in science and mathematics; it will meet needs and expectations of students that are not being currently met; it will not intrude into the teacher's existing plans; it will not impinge upon subject boundaries of what the teacher is already teaching, so there will be no repetition and overlap.
- The fellow in consultation with the teacher have decided that it may be good to work with individual students in figuring out what are their respective strengths and weaknesses and trying to match appropriate scientific visualization tools for teaching them simple concepts. The work will involve selecting such tools that will be "tailor made" for individual students, depending upon what their needs may be.
- An important aspect that will influence the situated nature of how the technology gets incorporated in the classroom setting is the self-paced nature of student learning and classroom teaching in this context. There is no formal lecture; students come and leave at different times; this will surely impact synchronizing use and instruction of visualization tools at different times with different students.
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Credits & Acknowledgements
People associated with the GK-12 project:
Dr. Eric Jakobsson (PI and Mentor)
Dr. Richard Braatz (Mentor)
Dr. Delwyn Harnisch (Evaluation)
Dr. Umesh Thakkar (Project Coordination)
Dr. Deanna Raineri (Mentor)
Sharon Comstock (Evaluation)
Akihiko Takahashi (Evaluation)
Rebecca A. Kruse (Fellow)
Steven A. Moore (Fellow)
John M. Sabo (Fellow)
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