HR: 0830h
AN: ED41D-1188    [PDF]
TI: Astronomy Village: Multimedia and Authentic Research in the Classroom
AU: * Croft, S K
EM: scroft@noao.edu
AF: National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 United States
AU: Pompea, S M
EM: spompea@noao.edu
AF: National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719 United States
AB: Two recent trends in American science education are: the use of technology in the classroom, and the development of inquiry-based science curricula that model authentic scientific research in the classroom. Two products have been developed in recent years at the Center for Educational Technology to test the ability of multimedia to put effective research models into the classroom: Astronomy Village: Investigating the Universe (AV-IU), and Astronomy Village: Investigating the Solar System (AV-ISS). AVIU is designed for high school students and deals with topics mostly in stellar and galactic astronomy, while AVISS is designed for middle school students and deals with topics in astrobiology and planetary geology. The objective of both products is to engage students in scientific inquiry by having them acquire, explore, and analyze real scientific data and images drawn from real scientific problems. By doing "hands-on" activities both on and off-line, the students would gain an understanding of scientific concepts and how science works. The challenge is to guide students through an investigation using a stand-alone multimedia CD-ROM. The central device for guidance in both products is the "Research Path Diagram," a visual representation and interactive model of the scientific process. In the earlier AV-IU, the "path" was linear and each investigation was independent. In the later AV-ISS, the path is circular and investigations are linked, so that students can see how research activities are in a sense cyclical and build on one another. While even the AV-ISS version is still not a truly accurate representation of the sometimes tortuous path trod by the research scientist, both models provide a good framework for approximating real research in a multimedia environment. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
DE: 6207 Comparative planetology
DE: 6299 General or miscellaneous
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 7599 General or miscellaneous
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting