Online Learning in Lesley University

Gilly PuttickGail Matthews-DeNatale

Sue DoublerKatherine Paget

TERC/Lesley University Online Master’s Program in Science Education

Funded by

The National Science FoundationDept. of Education, FIPSE

The Program

Goals and CoursesGoals:

1. K-8 teachers experience the inquiry process firsthand,

2. Learn to think/act like scientists, and

3. Change the way they teach science so that students also experience this type of learning.

Courses:

• The Introductory Course

- Try Science (3 credits)

• Two-Course Modules Co-taught by Scientist & Educator

- Investigating Physics / Listening to Children’s Ideas (6)

- Biology Explorations / Facilitating Inquiry (6)

- Earth Science / Teaching for Understanding (6)

- Engineering / Equity (6)

- Ecology/Assessment for Learning (6)

Biology Explorations: An Example of Inquiry in Action

Lessons learned from the course

construction & formative

evaluation process

First Lesson Learned

• Course developer (scientist) identifies the central questions and content. - What are the “big questions” of the discipline?- What aspects of everyday life provide fertile ground for pursuing these questions?

• Course development team brainstorms opportunities for investigating these questions (both on and offline). - What can be done easily at home?- What can technology do that’s not feasible offline?

• In this course, participants - Grow and gather data from grass plantings to explore adaptation and variation,- Make observational drawings and go online to view time lapse videos of germination,- Shear grass plants to simulate grazing, - Use Fathom (statistical software) to analyze their data, - Report and discuss findings online in study groups,- Etc.

“Distance” Isn’t Always Online

“In this course, you will investigate two questions that have underpinned evolutionary biology since Darwin's time:

1.What are the environmental challenges that plants [& animals] face?

2.What features -- or adaptations -- help to ensure their survival?

You will observe the minute details of germination … You will also ‘zoom out’ to explore adaptation on an entirely different scale -- looking for global patterns in grassland distribution.”

Second Lesson Learned

• Scientist (course developer) is reflexive about the process of science

• Course development team constructs investigation experience to make the process of “doing science” explicit and visible -- because the process is opaque to non-scientists

• In this investigation, PowerPoint slides are used to help course participants make predictions and articulate their prior knowledge and assumptions

Investigation Step 1: Predict global distribution

1. Download this file and open it in PowerPoint

2. Use the drawing tools to outline and shade in your predicted grassland areas

3. Add a text box and enter the rationale for your predictions. Include the everyday knowledge and reasoning you used to make your predictions.

“Not knowing very much about world geography, I based my predictions on the fact that true grasslands in the U.S. seem to occur in the middle of the country. If weather patterns produced by oceans are similar, this may occur on other continents, too. …

It also makes sense that there would be bands along the same lines of longitude, if weather patterns travel from West to East along similar lines.”

Student “A” Prediction

“I made the best predictions I could as I used everyday knowledge to predict where grasslands are distributed in the world. I called family and friends and had them recall their observations of grasses during their travels abroad …

My niece spent a year in Buenos Aires, Argentina and talked about the pampas region which has high prairies like the American Great Plains. My husband and I traveled to Oklahoma where I observed short prairie grass similar to the pictures of the grass in Iowa in the grasslands tour.”

Student “B” Prediction

Third Lesson Learned

• The scientist (course developer) is reflexive about how scientists use data.

• The development team positions technology as a data-rich resource used to further evidence-gathering, not as a demo to consult for answers. The team develops generative ways for participants to “get into” the data.

• In this investigation, GLOBE satellite data provides an opportunity for multivariate analysis -- but the data needed to be restructured to support interactive and comparative analysis online.

Investigation Step 2:Examine & analyze climatic factors

1. Is there a correlation between grassland distribution and one or more climatic factors?

2. Does one factor appear to be most important?

3. How do these climatic patterns compare with your predictions?

Fourth Lesson Learned

• Scientist (course developer) is reflexive about scientific conversations

• The development team provides prompts for participants to reflect on their analysis of the data, report findings and questions, and generate theories with peers

• In this investigation, study groups of 5-6 participants discuss their work in online forums.

Laurie: One of the questions I have is the relationship between soil moisture and precipitation. The GLOBE images show that much of the area I would consider Russia has very little precipitation but soil moisture seems to be high ...

Rachelle: I was also looking at North America and Russia and thought about the precipitation vs. soil moisture findings.

I wonder if months of snow makes a difference?

... Does accumulated snow melting consistently during a month or so (raising the soil moisture content so dramatically) play a role in the adaptations of grasses in these areas?

Investigation Step 3: Reflecting & discussing

What the Online Environment Affords Students (If We Let It)

•A place to enact the process of science inquiryStudents experience firsthand how scientists think, act, and interact. To do this, each assignment should further prediction, evidence-gathering, analysis and interpretation, etc.

•An opportunity to bring science into their everyday lives, and vice versaDigital & tactile spaces aren’t mutually exclusive: Students work online and offline. Because participants contribute to the course from their homes, online and offline boundaries are blurred in a constructive manner.

•A forum for discussion informed by shared differences

Investigations are common experiences, yet each participant’s data and insights provide a unique (and important) piece of the puzzle.