Bringing advanced science inquiry tools in for a soft landing: report of a five year study

Mike Charles & Bob Kolvoord

(Pacific University) & (James Madison University)

Research supported by the National Science Foundation

Northwest Council for Computers in EducationSeattle, Washington March 2005

The promise

Scientific visualization tools provide... Rich use of the computers available in schoolsConnections to science/math for visual learnersA vehicle for inquiry-based science Use tools which were originally designed to help

scientists understand and explore data

Goal: To draw today’s increasingly visual learners into in-depth study of science/math topics

The opportunity

How to get more teachers involved in using visualization tools in their classrooms? A promising tool that requires advanced skills

Extended training in the tools is often too much, too soon...

Project VISM

Three week summer institutes sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology program at James Madison UniversityCross-training in different visualization techniques, including image processing, GIS, molecular modeling and simulationMiddle and High School science and mathematics teachers with some higher education participants Teacher educators who work with prospective science and

mathematics teachers

Summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002--118 participants total

Tools taught in Project VISM

Image processingNIH Image/Scion Image/Image JGeospatial AnalysisArcView GISMolecular VisualizationRasMol/Chemscape ChimeSystems modellingSTELLA

NIH Image/Scion Image/ImageJ

Public domain image processing software

Software and free classroom activities available at http://www.evisual.org/

Animal hands: identifying x-rays of animal hands by describing the hand and identifying its function

ArcView GIS

Available for educators--See the ESRI homepage

http://www.esri.com/

Classroom activity available at http://www.evisual.org/

Plate Tectonics visualized: mark earthquake and volcanic sites on a world map using spreadsheet data. Observe patterns and identify plate boundaries.

RASMOL/Chemscape Chime

Public domain software for mol viz

Presented as “molecular storytelling”

Resource page: http://www.isat.jmu.edu/users/klevicca/vism/vism.htm

"Come See the Molecules—Using 3-D Modeling Programs to Learn Chemistry" in ISTE's Learning & Leading with Technology

http://www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol29/no4/index.html(Note: Must be a subscriber to the periodical in order to access Acrobat

files of the articles)

STELLA

Commercial systems simulation softwareStrong educator user baseMore info at http://www.hps-inc.com/

Pictured here: simulation model for a cup of coffee cooling using stocks and flows

The ACOT model of stages of teacher development in using technological tools

Entry level-competent using the tool at the workshop Learned the Animal Hands activity at a workshop

Adopt the tool into their teaching practice Successfully used the Animal Hands activity with my students

Adapt the tool into their teaching practice Made significant modifications to the Animal Hands activity to

make it work better with my students

Innovate with the tool in their teaching practice Brought in new images from a local zoo of animal hands to add to

the activity

The VISM matrix: The ACOT model described for each of the four tools

Created based on conversations with the instructors over the duration of the projectPosed as a hypothetical path that teachers might followWe did NOT expect teachers to reach the innovate level with all four tools, but instead to make professional choices among their visualization options VISM Matrix

Critical attributes of advanced tools

Competency with the software tool (ACOT model)Competency with the scientific data that the tool usesCompetency with the pedagogical content knowledge needed to teach curricular content using the tool Pedagogical content knowledge identifies the distinctive bodies of

knowledge for teaching. It represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular topics, problems or issues are organized, represented, and adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of learners, and presented for instruction. Pedagogical content knowledge is the category most likely to distinguish the understanding of the content specialist from that of the pedagogue. (Shulman, 1987)

Follow-on interviews

10 interviews conducted thus far35 questionnaires from Summer 2003 and 2004 “reunion” workshop participantsStarter questions for open-ended interviewsBriefly describe 1 or 2 projects you carried out last year with your

students using one or more of these visualization tools.What were your greatest obstacles in using these tools with your

students during the year? Briefly describe what you think you accomplished this year based

on your participation in the VISM workshop, and one thing you had hoped to accomplish but perhaps did not.

Summary of implementation of the tools

Adopt-used an activity

Adopt-used several

acts.

Adapt Innovate %

Image processing

7 17 14 15 38%

Geospatial Analysis

9 5 8 16 27%

Systems modeling

7 5 4 10 19%

Molecular Visualization

11 3 3 6 16%

Totals 34 30 29 47

% 24% 21% 21% 34%

Changes in your ability with these tools

Less competent More competent

1 2 3 4 5 total

ArcView 3 5 7 6 23 44

Image J 4 1 12 13 14 44

STELLA 9 7 12 8 7 43

RASMOL/Chemscape Chime

8 7 15 7 5 42

total 24 20 46 34 49

% 14% 12% 27% 20% 28%

Obstacles

Greatest obstacle for your use of these tools? (1--not an obstacle…5--serious obstacle)

Average

Lack of space in a crowded curriculum to do projects that use these tools

3.4

Lack of adequate teacher preparation time to prepare activities 3.0

Lack of teacher knowledge of these software tools 3.0

Lack of well-designed curriculum-based materials using these tools 2.8

Relating the use of these tools to increasing student achievement scores 2.6

Lack of adequate hardware/software 2.6

Student difficulty learning the tools 2.3

Incompatibility of these tools with district’s stated educational objectives

2.3

Obstacles

Time--to develop classroom ready activities

Space in the curriculum

Higher demands of NCLB and high stakes testing

Changes in teaching assignment and personal life

Hardware/software access--…negotiating adequate computer time for students to do their work is

nonetheless a major challenge for these teachers.

Case study examples

In-depth interviews with 9 teachers

Exemplary uses of all four tools by experienced scientific visualization tool users

Teacher One & Teacher Nine

Image processing Innovate

Physics Image project—photographing and dropping a ball and determining acceleration rate of gravity. Adapted from discussions with a VISM participant.

-90 minutes period to do

-90 minute period to analyze

Geospatial Analysis Innovate

Would “watering holes” in the desert reduce mortality rates for illegal aliens?

Plotted paths on an image of the southwest

-2 week activity

Built an online eAtlas database of economic indicators for 6 border crossings between AZ and Sonora

-8 week project

Molecular Visualization Adapt

RASMOL model of a number of different inorganic solid structures which they observed the shape of and predicted the polarity

-90 minute lab activity

Systems modeling Adapt

Teacher created STELLA model of immigration rates with or without “watering holes”

-90 minute lab activity

Comments Already at the innovate level with NIH Image and ArcView prior to VISM

More typical implementations

Teacher two Teacher three Teacher four

Image processing

Adopt

Completed Travel USA activity with 9th grade computer apps course as part of a population sampling activity

1 period activity

Adopt

Demonstrated one NIH Image activity to students.

No student activities or projects

1 period activity

Adapt

Maintained her use of this tool. Demos several activities-- students may investigate “hands on” outside of class.

Offered summer institutes for 20 teachers in NIH Image.

Geospatial Analysis

Innovate

11th/12th grade elective GIS course with 22 students in each of 2 semesters.

Students complete GIS projects-ESRI text

Multi-week mapping projects

Adopt

Demonstrated one GIS activity re the distribution of volcanoes.

No student activities or projects

1 period activity

Innovate

Taught a GIS applications course to a broad range of professionals in the region

Applying for an NSF grant to design a GIS program on campus

Scholarship to GIS in Ed. conference

Molecular Visualization

Not yet Adopt

Demonstrated 3D capabilities of software

No student activities or projects

1 period activity

Not yet

RASMOL Saturday workshop and materials given to a colleague in chemistry

Systems modeling

Not yet Not yet Not yet

Considering using as part of a BLM prairie dog town research project

Comments Pursuing further instruction in ArcView Intends to do student projects in advanced courses next year.

Greatest need: more GIS training

VISM tools not yet “landed” in teaching practice

Teacher five Teacher six Teacher seven Teacher eight

Image processing Not yet Not yet Not yet Conducted workshops with teachers--minimal results in classrooms

Geospatial Analysis

Not yet Not yet Not yet Conducted summer workshops using Mapping Our World

Molecular Visualization

Not yet Not yet Adopt

Authored a webpage tutorial re polar and nonpolar molecules Used once with students with limited effectiveness

Not yet

Systems modeling

Not yet •Not yet •Greatest interest for use with calculus class

Not yet Not yet

Comments Adopted probeware/astronomy software based on VISM tech expertise

New math/science center -- upcoming sabbatical to develop curriculum specific activities

Hardware access obstacles

Workshop marked him as a possible tech leader in his school.

Hardware access obstacles

Restimulated interest in a new set of software visualization tools and motivated her to try more training in these areass

Crowded curriculum & NCLB

Discussion

Current professional development literature argues for site-based, curriculum-specific professional development efforts with significant on-site follow-up Sustainable? Scalable? Need to look outside the constraints of the site and

curriculum Intrinsically motivated educators constructing their own

program of professional development--the fundamentally constructivist nature of teacher learning.

Project VISM was a university-based program with materials that had only general curriculum connections and with no significant on-site follow-up component.

Fundamentally constructivist nature of teacher learning

Staff training

Extrinsic motivation

Program determined by organizational mission and goals

Mandated by the organization

Professional Development

Intrinsic motivation

Constructing their own program

Personally constructed

For more info

Mike Charles at Pacific University charlesm@pacificu.edu

Bob Kolvoord, Project Director, at JMU kolvoora@jmu.edu

Project VISM home page

http://www.isat.jmu.edu/common/projects/VISM/