Volume 11, Number 1 2000
Barry J. Fishman
610 E. University, 1360E SEB School of Education University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259 USAfishman@umich.edu
This paper presents a framework for understanding how the varying expertise, attitudes, and classroom activity structures of science teachers influence their students’ use of a suite of computer-mediated communications tools in each of their classrooms. These issues are explored in the context of the Learning Through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project. Findings indicate that teacher designs for classroom activity relate strongly to the frequency with which different tools are used. These results are presented in order to build a case for understanding how innovations are adopted in local contexts, as an important first step to bringing an innovation to scale.
Scott D. Johnson, Steven R. Aragon, Najmuddin Shaik, and Nilda Palma-Rivas
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1310 South Sixth Street Champaign, IL 61820 USAsjohnson@uiuc.edu
This empirical study compared a graduate online course with an equivalent course taught in a traditional face-to-face format on a variety of outcome measures. Comparisons included student ratings of instructor and course quality; assessment of course interaction, structure, and support; and learning outcome measures such as course grades and student self-assessment of their ability to perform various Instructional Systems Design (ISD) tasks. Results revealed that the students in the face-to-face course held slightly more positive perceptions about the instructor and overall course quality although there was no difference between the two course formats in several measures of learning outcomes. The findings have direct implications for the creation, development, and delivery of online instruction.
Phil Vahey
SRI International, Center for Technology in Learning 333 Ravenswood Ave Menlo Park, CA 94025 USAphilip.vahey@sri.com
Noel Enyedy and Bernard Gifford
Education in Mathematics Science and Technology Cognition and Development 4533 Tolman Hall, University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720-1670 USAenyedy@socrates.berkeley.edu, bgifford@socrates.berkeley.edu
In this paper we report on the Probability Inquiry Environment (PIE), which facilitates the development of probabilistic reasoning by making available collaborative inquiry activities and student-controlled simulations. These activities guide middle school students toward a deeper understanding of probability, a domain that is becoming increasingly important in the K-12 mathematics curricula of the United States but which is notoriously difficult to learn. A study is described in which middle school students who participated in the PIE curriculum significantly outperformed students who participated in the school’s traditional probability curriculum. We posit that this difference is due to the PIE curriculum fostering student collaboration as the students employ their existing intuitions as building blocks for formal knowledge. This provides evidence that a productive learning environment should not be based solely upon the logical structure of the target domain, but should also account for both students’ intuitive conceptions of a domain, as well as aspects of social interaction that shape students’ experiences. We then show the importance of intuitions and social interaction by analyzing a case study in which students articulated and revised their initial understandings of probability as they interacted with PIE—collaboratively making predictions, evaluating data, and interpreting representations.
Lorraine Sherry and Shelley H. Billig
1512 Larimer Street, Suite 540 RMC Research Corporation Denver, Colorado 80202 USAsherry@rmcdenver.com
lsherry@carbon.cudenver.edu
Fern Tavalin
The WEB Project Montpelier, Vermont USAtavalin@sover.net
With the increase of Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) usage in the classroom, instructional activities are now being implemented that use online conversation for knowledge-building. Current research with The WEB Project, a Technology Innovation Challenge Grantee, subtitled “Creating a WEB of Evidence of Student Performance in Nonverbal Inquiry and Expression” can help inform practice in this area. This paper presents a synthesis of current research on face-to-face and online conversation and a short analysis of episodes of online conversations captured from The WEB Exchange (www.webproject.org), together with a few perceptions from a student focus group. Lessons learned and implications for practice are then presented.