Researching classroom interactions: A methodology for teachers and researchers
Teaching and learning in schools is a complex social process which involves both the teacher and students in distributed knowledge-building activities. Research into this process includes researchers exploring from the outside and teachers exploring from the inside (Bassey, 1995). Jaworski (2003) draws on the work of Wagner (1997) to elaborate a form of research which she calls co-learning, in which research on classroom learning is “conducted jointly by outsiders and insiders” (p 250). The w
Exploratory Test of an Automated Knowledge Elicitation and Organization Tool
his paper combines the contents of two papers that were presented at the ITS 98 conference one focusing on knowledge representation (Shute, 1998) and the other describing a knowledge elicitation tool (Shute, Torreano, & Willis, 1998). There are three main purposes of this paper. First, as a means to stress instructional and assessment implications of different knowledge types, we will briefly overview knowledge representations. Second, we describe a novel cognitive tool designed to aid in knowle
Investigating human computer interaction issues in designing efficient virtual learning environments
Today, when an enormous number of computer-based systems exist, the human activities are being computer mediated. Usually, in designing the interface to those systems, the human-computer interaction is left behind without consideration. In this paper, a literature in human-computer interaction is to be reviewed and the technology aspect of human computer interaction is to be analyzed. Also, general design principles are to be reviewed. According to all these issues, recommendations to designing
Ask the Answer Worm!
A product of the National Resource Conservation Service and the US Department of Agriculture, the Ask the Answer Worm Web site gives teachers a great resource to teach young students about the importance of soil as a natural resource. S.K. Worm answers thirteen important questions related to soil conservation, such as "How does water stay in the soil?" and "Why do plants like soil?" Each concise answer is accompanied by a fun and colorful illustration of S.K. Worm commenting on the question at h
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,In this segment the interviewer is trying to find out if the student understands that even though you may mix two things together, the individual components still retain their properties.
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,In this segment the interviewer is using the phenomenon of salt dissolving in water to build upon the student's previous ideas about mixing substances together. This time the student sees one of the substances as "disappearing." Even though he says the mixture will still taste salty, which is evidence that there is salt in the water, he shows that he holds on to a belief that the salt has disappeared and is gone.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The segment shows how the interviewer uses a series of probing questions to find out Emily's ideas about how rain and wind can break rock. He presents Emily with a rock and water and asks her to demonstrate and explain her ideas. As he probes he elicits ideas about cracks in the rock and asks Emily to explain how that happens. His probing begins to reveal that Emily also has ideas about the force of water and str
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer probes for the student's ideas about what would happen to the weight when a substance is dissolved. He asks the student to make a prediction and they test it using a balance scale. The student accepts the idea that the weight remains the same with the substance they tested but when asked what would happen with other substances, such as sugar, the student reverts back to the tenacious idea he holds
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,This segment shows an example of the interviewer probing to find out if the student thinks dissolving is the same as melting, a commonly held idea.
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The segment shows the interviewer using an example of sand mixed with water to find out if the student thinks the sand and water has changed when it is mixed together. The interviewer asks questions about the amount of water and sand and the colors of the sand and water- would they be the same after they are separated back into their individual components.The part of the benchmark addressed: Some features of thin
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,In this segment the interviewer is trying to find out if the student understands the idea that even though you may change some things, such as mixing two things together, the individual components still retain their properties.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,This segment shows the interviewer having the student put her drawings together and describe the story of what happened from beginning to present as well as predict into the future what may happen to the land mass of India. He uses a variety of techniques besides the drawing- having the student represent what is happening with hand movements and using a globe to make her prediction about the location of India in
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,When Emily makes a statement about salt being in water, the interviewer probes further to find out her ideas about rain and the water cycle. She has some correct ideas about the water evaporating from oceans and coming down again as rain but has the incorrect notion that the salt evaporates with the water. He tries to challenge her thinking by having her think about familiar phenomena like tasting the salt in oce
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer uses photos of two mountains to probe for the student's ideas about how rock on the mountains breaks down. As he probes, the student uses the idea of decomposers to explain the process rather than wind or rain.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer is trying to find out the student's ideas about how rain can break down rock before leading into the more sophisticated idea of how water (rain) can wear down mountains. He asks the student to explain his ideas about how something as hard as a rock can be broken down by rain and whether the force of the rain makes a difference.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer is trying to find out if the student can explain how the sand got onto a beach. It shows how a representation (the map of Cape Cod) and familiar experience (going to the beach at Cape Cod) are used to try to guide the student in sharing her reasoning about where the sand came from.The segment does not address the part of the benchmark about seasonal layers.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer uses a series of probes to build upon Emily's idea that wind and rain can break down rock to find her idea of where the broken down pieces of rock go. The segment shows that the interviewer has identified that Emily has some correct ideas about the role of water and wind but struggles with where the material and what size, gets deposited.
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The segment shows the interviewer asking the student to use a series of sequential drawings to show what happens to a mountain over time, as it wears down-due to wind and water. The drawings show that the student has an idea that the mountain gets leveled over time,yet, questions that probe further reveal that she is not sure where the material goes and the wind and water's specific role in changing the shape of
Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space Science
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,The interviewer builds on the student's prior knowledge about sand coming from rock by probing further to find out her ideas about how the sand ends up on a beach. He probes beneath her responses by trying to uncover why she thinks the sand comes from the ocean and why she thinks waves make sand out of rock. He challenges several ideas by asking her for an explanation and presenting other phenomena such as what
Essential Science for Teachers: Physical Science: Session 2. The Particle Nature of Matter: Solids,
In-depth interviews with children that uncover their ideas about the topic at hand.,In this segment the student is describing how all atoms are the same. He begins by drawing his own mental model of an atom and explaining that all atoms are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons. He says the air atom is the same as the aluminum foil atom. He goes on to describe other things that are made up of the same particles. The interviewer probes further to find out if atoms of different substances ar
