TRANSFORMING STEM EDUCATION THROUGH CYBERLEARING

Kemi Jona, Ph.DNorthwestern University

This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant OCI-0753324. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

High School Science Lab in 1900

High School Science Lab Today

Science Lab: The Real World

100 years later

With the exception of indoor plumbing, why does the school science lab look the same?

Where are the productivity gains in science education that we have seen in industry?

HOW CAN WE FIX STEM EDUCATION AT THIS SCALE?

X ~140,000 elementary/secondary schools in US

Cloud Computing

Software as a Service

Web hosting services

What if we could do the same thing for science

labs?

www.iLabCentral.org

Pilot Results(N=594 students)

Overall Learning Gain

(% score increase, 18 items)

15%

Statistical significance P ≤ 0.0001

Effect size 0.80

Content Learning 21%

Statistical significance P ≤ 0.0001

Effect size 1.03

Process Learning 8%

Statistical significance P ≤ 0.0001

Effect size 0.37

A Lot of Experiments!

When did students do the lab?

MIT Neutron Beam iLab

A Science Lab Server Farm at University of Technology Sydney

WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL SCIENCE LAB OF THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

?

Transformative at Multiple Levels

Advantages of The iLab Network Broadens access to expensive or delicate

high-end equipment Provides students with access to remotely-

hosted science lab facilities rather than just local ones

More time on task / less setup & cleanup More experimental runs Safer Can do labs before and after class, at home –

not limited to 50 min class period Share & compare data locally or globally –

just like scientists do Enables new economic models and

public/private partnerships for provisioning lab equipment for schools

We can not expect to fill the

pipeline for a 21st century STEM workforce with 19th century

curriculum, tools, and policies.

Cyberlearning tools like the iLab Network

can drive the transformation of STEM education and broaden access to high-quality

STEM learning opportunities for all

students

THANK YOU!