Regulative support during inquiry learning with
simulations and modeling
Many factors impact learning; the environment and resources available, the domain, how much prior-knowledge a student has, and how well they make use of their metacognitive skills, all of these factors impact new knowledge creation. The series of studies described in this dissertation focuses on the latter; i.e. the metacognitive skillfulness of students. Known collectively as self-regulation, planning, monitoring, and evaluation, when applied appropriately will enhance learning. Students who m
A Neural Approach for Modeling the Inference of Awareness in Computer-Supported Collaboration
Individuals interacting in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment produce a variety of information elements during their participation; these information elements usually have a complex structure and semantics, which make it rather difficult to find out the behavioral attitudes and profiles of the users involved. This work provides a model that can be used to discover awareness information lying underneath multi-user interaction. This information is initially captured in
Internet Scout Project
This outstanding website on Native Conifers of North America was created by Nearctica, an organization devoted to connecting the internet public to high quality natural sciences websites. The site offers The Complete Conifers of North America whereby site visitors can access Genera and Species from a checklist or by using a nicely organized key system based on various conifer characteristics. Species pages include beautiful illustrations, photos, and simple distribution maps as well as informati
Internet Scout Project
Southern Florida contains some of the most unique landscape and biology in the US. The US Geological Society and Southern Florida Information Access (SOFIA) maintains the South Florida Virtual Tour in hopes of sharing the beauty of the area and promoting its protection. Visitors can tour sixteen areas (e.g., the Everglades and the Florida Keys); view images (still and 360 degree), illustrations, and maps; and read simple but informative descriptions about the landscape and biota. The site is eas
Internet Scout Project
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) created this website to act as a central source for disseminating information about climate change. Users can find out the latest news about global warming, CO2 emissions, government efforts, and more. The website features the major initiatives taken on by UNEP including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In order to understand the climate change problems, the website has supplied users with many maps and graphs as well as information k
Internet Scout Project
Elsevier Engineering Information has made the U.S. National Technical Information Service (NTIS) database through the Engineering Village 2. The NTIS database includes unclassified reports from U.S. and international government agencies. Through Engineering Village 2, an interdisciplinary engineering database, subscribers can now search three engineering databases simultaneously, accessing over 9-million records referencing 5,000 engineering journals and conference materials dating from 1884 and
Training programme for geography teachers
This paper contains a description of a Geography teacher-training program for in-service education. The program is a variant for incorporating the methodology of the Minerva- project “Innovative Didactics via Web-based Learning” (further abbreviated as IDWBL) so that the Geography teachers at work can be adequately prepared for integrating ICT in geography education at secondary schools via web-based education. The theme may seem at first glance as a variation of a known subject… But for the
Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe
Making the History of 1989 materials were developed because teachers and their students have little access to vivid historical documents in English that convey the epochal events of 1989. Project materials utilize recent advances in our understanding of how historical learning takes place, including complex interaction with sources, recursive reading, and skills used by historians.
The site has three key features: a substantial collection of high quality primary sources; a set of multimedia int
Internet Scout Project
Engaging in social issues in today's society requires an understanding of numerical data, statistics, and mathematical assumptions that underlie discussions about the federal budget, the spread of disease and other issues. However, the mathematics and the social issues are often considered in isolation and leave many Americans "ill-prepared to make informed decisions." The Thinking with Data Project is a new initiative of the National Science Foundation, SRI International, Kent State University
Toward Computer-Based Support of Meta-Cognitive Skills: a Computational Framework to Coach Self-Expl
We present a computational framework designed to improve learning from examples by supporting self-explanation ö the process of clarifying and making more complete to oneself the solution of an example. The framework is innovative in two ways. First, it represents the first attempt to provide computer support to example studying instead of problem solving. Second, it explicitly coaches a domain-general, meta-cognitive skill that many studies in cognitive science have shown to greatly improve le
Internet Scout Project
GeoVRML is an official Working Group of the Web3D Consortium (http://www.web3d.org/) and its goal is to develop tools and recommended practice for using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to represent geographical data. The idea is that geo-referenced data (maps and 3-D terrain models) can be viewed over the web using a standard VRML plugin. GeoVRML Working Group has a mailing list where discussions and developments are posted. Specifications, source code, examples, tools and the accom
LaCOLLA: Middleware for Self-Sufficient Online Collaboration
The LaCOLLA middleware makes it possible for collaborators to interact using their own resources and not depend on a centralized regime. By contributing their own resources, group members can organize and communicate using a federated peer-to-peer model. Utilizing LaCOLLA middleware, the group can function regardless of whether a member removes resources and despite network or node failures or disconnection. This capacity for self-organization, together with location transparency, lets applicati
Narrative Evolution: Learning from Students' Talk about Species Variation
Learners do not always enjoy productive interactions with Multimedia Interactive Learning Environments. Their attention can be distracted away from the educational focus intended by designers and teachers through poor design and operational inadequacy. In this paper we describe a study of groups of learners using a multimedia CD-ROM research tool called Galapagos. This tool was developed to enable us to observe groups of learners interacting with different versions of the same multimedia content
LifeWorks
This site explores careers in health and medical sciences. See interviews with more than 70 professionals -- a chemist, dentist, dietician, epidemiologist, lab technologist, medical illustrator, microbiologist, nurse, pharmacist, social worker, veterinarian, and others. Learn what their typical workday involves and why they chose their career. Find out which careers match your interests and skills.
A Collaborative Case Study System For Distance Learning
Distance Learning from Case Studies involves enabling collaboration between two or more learners at a distance on a case study activity. In this paper we present an empirical qualitative study that simulates a learning scenario in which a pair of subjects at a distance are provided with a collaborative learning environment and required to collaborate in order to solve a case study. The results of this empirical qualitative study have implications that informed the design of a system: LeCS (Learn
Do two heads search better than one? Effects of student collaboration on Web search behavior and sea
This study compared Pairs of students with Single students in Web search tasks. The underlying hypothesis was that peer-to-peer collaboration encourages students to articulate their thoughts, which in turn has a facilitative effect on the regulation of the search process as well as search outcomes. Both hypotheses were supported by the results. Pairs located the target information more often and in less time than Singles did. Pairs also employed a richer repertoire of search strategies and were
Internet Scout Project
A Cornell Lab of Ornithology creation, this All About Birds website provides birders with a wealth of resources. The website features a first-rate online bird guide with photos, songs and calls, range maps, and information on reproduction, behavior, habitat, and more. The site's Birding 1, 2, 3 program offers instructions for identifying birds, where to go birding, and how to report observations so that you "become part of the world's largest bird studies research team." The site hosts a Gear Gu
Flexible navigation for the pedagogical hypermedia design and evaluation improvement
We are working on a method, called CEPIAH, for the design and the evaluation of pedagogical hypermedia. We propose a web based system used to help teachers to design hypermedia documents and to evaluate their prototypes. Having already elaborated a methodology for the evaluation of interactive pedagogical hypermedia (EMPI), the experience and the acknowledgement we have is able to upgrade the design help. To help the designer in his instructional Web site creation we developed an interactive gui
On Determinism from the course History of Information
This course explores the history of information and associated technologies, uncovering why we think of ours as 'the information age.' We will select moments in the evolution of production, recording, and storage from the earliest writing systems to the world of Short Message Service (SMS) and blogs. In every instance, we'll be concerned with both what and when and how and why, and we will keep returning to the question of technological determinism: how do technological developments affect socie
Foundations and opportunities for an interdisciplinary science of learning
In this chapter, we argue that the learning sciences are poised for a "decade of synergy." We focus on several key traditions of theory and research with the potential for mutually influencing one another in ways that can transform how we think about the science of learning, as well as how future educators and scientists are trained.
