One of the most profound changes this will create is that students will no longer have to go to a specific place to learn. Students will be able to learn wherever they are; their learning can be in any context that stimulates their interest. The Concord Consortium's Science Learning in Context (SLiC) project is an attempt to peer into this future and study today the educational implications of developments that are only a few years away.

The project, funded by the National Science Foundation, is now in its second year. In collaboration with the University of Michigan and the Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN), three test sites are helping explore various applications of this technology: an elementary school in Hudson, Massachusetts, a middle school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a high school in Deming, Washington.

Inquiry-based Investigations

We began the project using Apple Newtons equipped with probes. They enabled students at our test sites to leave the classroom to conduct water quality investigations. Our Michigan school has been studying the quality of their local stream using temperature, light, pH, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen probes. In Washington, using similar probeware, one group of students, along with middle and high school students, has been studying and documenting which factors indicate a healthy salmon habitat. Another group of students in Washington has been monitoring the local Cain Lake. In addition to the probes mentioned above they have been using colorimeter probeware to study turbidity, phosphates, and nitrate levels. These students provide their data to the Washington State Department of Ecology, which is interested in the effects of increased population around the region's lakes.

Scientific phenomena are around us all the time, but it often takes guidance, observation, instrumentation and measurement, combined with informed visualization, to bring the phenomena to our attention. When equipped with portable, networked personal computers capable of immediate data representation, students are free to conduct richer inquiry-based investigations. Using this approach we expect the learning to be more immediate, enabling students to develop good investigative skills.

Research

Our primary research goal is to look for improvements in student learning and investigation skills that can be attributed to our technology. Under the direction of professors Joseph Krajcik and Mary Starr at the University of Michigan School of Education, researchers at two test sites are documenting student learning. What is immediately evident is that the technology takes kids out of the classroom to collect real world data for scientific investigations and allows them to immediately analyze their results. The students are excited about the process and highly focused on their work.

Future Directions

The technology is becoming increasingly more powerful and affordable. The new Apple eMate™ is the first U.S. computer designed for students. While it may not be the leading desktop computer model, or the most powerful, it is ideal for our current research. Like the Newton, the eMate has a touch screen, handwriting recognition, is portable and runs a Newton operating system. Yet eMate borrows features of a laptop such as a keyboard and larger screen.

To support our needs, the SLiC project has developed probeware for the eMate, now sold by Knowledge Revolution, as a line of hardware, software and curricular activities called eProbe™. The software, which builds upon Newton software developed by SLiC, calibrates and records readings from probes and displays the data in multiple symbolic representations. The eProbe software and interface accepts all Vernier probes. An eProbe starter package, marketed by Apple as an optional accessory, consists of three probes (temperature, light and voltage) an interface box, and 25 activities, which use the three probes to conduct scientific investigations of every day occurrences around the home, in the car, by a stream, or in the classroom.

It may, however, be hard to interest educators in smaller computers like the eMate. They fail the features race: they are not bigger, faster or more expansive than their predecessors. Yet, computers like the eMate may be far more valuable educationally than the increasingly powerful computers designed for business. We hope our initial research with this new class of computers stimulates the interest of educators and provides guidance for informed decisions both by designers of the next computers and educators who will use them.

We are moving beyond the scope of our test sites to disseminate our initial findings and technology. This summer, the SLiC project is offering several teacher professional development workshops. The workshops, which run from three to five days, shows teachers how to create effective inquiry-based learning using eMate and eProbe. In collaboration with GREEN, group workshops will be offered to instruct teachers on the technology with a specific focus on water quality investigations.

If you are interested in hosting or attending a workshop, please contact us (slic@concord.org).

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Welcome :: Masthead :: The Future Is Now :: VHS Netcourse ::
MayaQuest Expedition :: Prof. Development :: Personal Inquiries :: INTEC Tech ::
Power & Portability :: Here Comes the Sun :: Reform Education :: Perspective :: Get Involved! ::

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