News at Concord Consortium

New Book – Transforming Schools with Technology

Harvard Education Press has published a new book by the Concord Consortium’s Andy Zucker, Transforming Schools with Technology: How Smart Use of Digital Tools Helps Achieve Six Key Education Goals. The book states that the value of technology rests on whether computers and other digital tools help meet six key goals: increasing student achievement; making schools more engaging and relevant (thereby reducing dropout rates); providing a high-quality education for all students (including English language learners and students with disabilities); attracting, preparing, and retaining high-quality teachers; increasing parental and community support for children outside of school; and requiring accountability for results. Andy argues that digital technology has begun to transform schools into the more modern, effective, responsive institutions that our society needs and he provides many examples.

Electron Models

Electrons and their interactions with materials are central to a wide range of phenomena, techniques, and apparatus. An understanding of the basic concepts of electrical conduction and semiconductors can explain important phenomena related to light spectra, electronics, material science, photonics, and chemistry. This atomic-scale perspective is seldom included in introductory science because it is considered “advanced” and is usually obscured by difficult math. We are convinced that allowing students to explore interactive computer models of electron interactions will make all this much more accessible.

The National Science Foundation recently awarded the Concord Consortium a grant called “Electron Technologies: Modeling Pico Worlds for New Careers” to test our conviction by measuring student progress when they use interactive models of electron interactions. Partners include Parkland College and three NSF Centers.

Project research will look at whether learning with these models is more accessible, transferable, and more accurately recalled later. Although this approach could be used at any introductory level, the project focuses on students pursuing technical careers at the high school and college levels.

Collaborations

The Concord Consortium has recently collaborated with many different groups to apply our “new medium” (see “Perspective”), including:

• The Maine Math Science Alliance and the Jackson Laboratory are collaborating with us to apply our technology to bioinformatics.
• We helped one state write a proposal that would use our technology in secondary science statewide.
• We are working with faculty at Winston-Salem State University to customize our materials for their introductory science courses.
• We are working with three companies to adapt our technology to their products.
• We work closely with all the probeware vendors to ensure that their hardware works with our technology.
• We are working with the NSF and their Presidential Awardees to create an ITSI-like site (see related article) that will contain the awardees’ own online activities.

We can help your organization with proposal development, professional development, curriculum, or products. Our new medium will enhance your work. Send inquiries to info@concord.org.