|
| About CILT | Resources | Events | Themes | People | Seed Grants |
 |
   |
 | |
|
Successful Collaborations and Their Benefits for the Field Symposium for the Annual Meeting of the
Session 25.04: 12:25-1:55pm, Wed, April 26
Symposium OverviewThe Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) isdesigned to foster collaborations that accelerate new developments in thefield of education. One mechanism for accomplishing this goal is the CILTseed grants program. A number of small seed grants have been awarded to foster fruitfulcollaborations among individuals from different Universities, businesses and research centers (see CILT.org for a list of seed grantees). The purpose of this symposium is to spotlightand celebrate four successful collaborations that began during the firstround of CILT seed grant funding (1997-1998). We spotlight one project fromeach of CILT's four theme teams: Visualization and Modeling, UbiquitousComputing, Community Tools and Assessments for Learning. An additional project involves CILT's Synergy efforts, which involve collaborations across all four theme teams in pursuit of a common goal. The projects chosen to be spotlighted arebuilding knowledge that is useful for a large number of AERA members. CILT's Web site (CILT.org) will let AERA members remainup-to date on these projects and others as well. The symposium will be organized around an Introduction followedby
a project related to each theme team. The CILT post doctoral fellow responsible
for each theme team will provide an overview of thecollaborative project;
one or more representatives of the collaborative project will then give
a brief overview of their progress, including the challenges and benefits
of attempting to work collaboratively. At the end of the symposium we will
distribute CILT"Spotlight" awards this year's participants. A brief overview
of more recent CILT seed projects will be provided as well.
Symposium PresentationsDiscussant: Barbara Means, SRI International and Robert Tinker, The Concord Consortium Collaboration and CILT (Introductory Remarks)
Visualization and Modeling Project: Virtual RealitySolar System.
The Virtual Reality Solar System project focused on adapting anintroductory astronomy course for undergraduate students from alarge-lecture format to one in which students were immersed in atechnologically-rich, inquiry-based, participatory learning environment. The curriculum was developed collaboratively among an astronomyprofessor, two educational psychologists, and a graduate student studyingastrophysics. In the revised course, undergraduate students used 3-Dmodeling to construct virtual realitymodels of the solar system, and in the process, build rich understandingsof various astronomical phenomena. The project's findings, which improve our understanding of thepotential
of these participatory, technology-rich contexts for supportinglearning,indicate
that this initial course was a successful innovation in which thelearning
of astronomy occurred through the construction of VR models. Thework that
began in part through a CILT seed grant is continuing in the formof a much
larger CCLI grant from the National Science Foundation, which has the intent
of contributing tothe broad reform of undergraduate astronomy courses around
the country.
Ubiquitous Computing Project: Palm sized Probes and Their Uses
New applications and technologies have been develop by ImagiWorksthat integrate a variety of sensors with low-cost portable computers toprovide students with the ability to do real-time data collection,graphing, and data analyses. Prior research studies have shown the impact of similartechnologies (e.g., micro-computer based laboratories) which enabledstudents to better interpret dynamic graphs and understand the meaning of data. ImagiWorks has inspired several partnerships with businesses, education researchers, curriculum developers,and teachers. As indicators of ImagiWork's successes, a computerconference gave ImagiWork's a best product award and Apple's CEO recentlyshowcased portable sensor-based inquiry during a live broadcast. Moreover, teachers are currently integratingsensor-based approaches into their science instruction in collaborationwith researchers conducting cognitive studies. Assessments for Learning Project: Aligning TIMSSitems with
the National Standards
This project has several key objectives that include identifyingchallenging TIMMS items for US students, aligning these items with NCTM standards,framework demonstrating the relationship between items and NCTM standards,drafting document for review for CILT, and submitting a final report foraffiliates to use in assessmentand evaluation projects. Ultimately the product of this research willprovide materials that can be utilized by the Dynamic Assessment projectand others. This project resulted in a new collaboration between theprinciple investigators and the MediaSeekcompany. This collaboration has lead toward them working together on a newgrant together. It is this kind of research and collaborations that CILTis trying to foster. Community Tools Project: Interoperable Componentsfor Shared Active
Representations (ICSAR) Interoperability amongKnowledge-Building Environments
Currently, research into richly functional software environmentsfor learning typically involves designing and implementing an entire systemfrom scratch. To alleviate this problem, the long-range vision of this teamis a set of re-usable interoperable components for simulation, animation, graphing, annotation,anchoring discussions, displaying evidence and connecting tools and tutors. As first steps, the ICSAR group set out to identify the varietyof
ways in which we want collaborating learners to interact with representations,
particularly focusing on how theseinteractions will require that software-based
representations be able tointeract with each other. We approached this
problem through theconstruction and analysis of scenarios for "ideal" learning
environments in several curricular areas ranging from middleschool through
college, and including Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology,Mathematics, and Oncology.
This analysis was intended to lead torecommendations for further work in
the development of component technology for educational software. CILT
Synergy Project: Applying the theory of"Knowledge Facets" and the Diagnoser
Software to issuesof understanding water quality from the perspective of
ecosystems.
All four of CILT's theme teams are combining forces totake on "Synergy" projects that are relevant forthousands of classrooms across the country. One synergy project is to helpstudents learn about water quality from the perspective of ecosystems. Lessons from the project include the need tohelp students identify and change their preconceptions about water quality,and to develop educational designs that are sufficiently flexible to fit avariety of contexts (e.g., easy vs. Difficult access to rivers and streams, different kinds ofpollution, etc.) Jim Minstrell's group has successfully used the theory of "knowledge facets" to create a Diagnoser program thathas helped students understanding important conceptsin physics. This theory and the software are being applied to the waterquality issue. Working with CILT members, Jim is helping us identifyknowledge facets and create compute-based items that diagnose variouspreconceptions and help students think through alternative conceptualizations. This work represents a powerful modelfor collaborative research in a number of domains. | ||||
|
SRI International |
The Concord Consortium |
Stanford University |
University of California Berkeley |
Vanderbilt University
| |||||
