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

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Bringing advanced science inquiry tools in for a
soft landing report of a five year study
Oregon Association of Teacher Education
Conference Portland, Oregon August 2007

• Mike Charles Bob Kolvoord
• (Pacific University) (James Madison
  University)
• Research supported by the National Science
  Foundation
• And the Tommy Thompson Award

Presentation available at http//fg.ed.pacificu.ed
u/charlesm/presentations.html
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The promise

• Scientific visualization tools provide...
• Rich use of the computers available in schools
• Connections to science/math for visual learners
• Vehicle for inquiry-based science
• Use tools which were originally designed to help
  scientists understand and explore data
• Goal To draw todays increasingly visual
  learners into in-depth study of science/math
  topics

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The opportunity

• How to get more teachers involved in using
  visualization tools in their classrooms?
• Promising tools that require advanced skills
• Extended training in the tools is often too much,
  too soon...

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Project VISM

• Three week summer institutes sponsored by the
  Interdisciplinary Science and Technology program
  at James Madison University
• Cross-training in different visualization
  techniques, including image processing, GIS,
  molecular modeling and simulation
• Middle 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
• 3 day follow on workshops-about 20 participants
  each time held at James Madison (Summer 2003) and
  Pacific Summer 2004)

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Tools taught in Project VISM

• Image processingNIH Image/Scion Image/Image J
• Geospatial AnalysisArcView GIS
• Molecular VisualizationRasMol/Chemscape Chime
• Systems modelingSTELLA

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ImageJ (NIH Image/Scion Image)

• 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

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IP--a powerful tool for sci inquiry because

• Ability to set scales and measure distances
• Measure angles as well
• Measure distances other than straight line
• Select pixels of a given value and measure
• Measure area
• Compare circumference to diameter to approximate
  Pi
• Ability to see multiple exposures of the same
  images

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ArcView GIS

• Available for educators--See the ESRI homepage
  http//www.esri.com/
• Classroom activities available at
  http//gis2.esri.com/industries/education/arclesso
  ns/arclessons.cfm
• Plate Tectonics visualized

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GIS--a powerful tool for sci inquiry because

• Ability to see information geospatially
• Make a mapwith multiple layers
• E.g. wheres the most recent earthquake?
• What patterns do you see in earthquake
  distribution?
• Environmental trends
• Using historical maps to answer questions
• Mapping where elements come from and researching
  how they get into everyday objects.

http//www.csc.noaa.gov/mpass/tools_gis.html
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RASMOL/Chemscape Chime

• Public domain software for mol viz
• Presented as molecular storytelling
• Resource page http//sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isa
  t/klevicca/Web/VISM/VISM.htm
• "Come See the MoleculesUsing 3-D Modeling
  Programs to Learn Chemistry" in ISTE's Learning
  Leading with Technology
• http//www.iste.org/LL/archive/vol29/no4/index.ht
  ml
• (Note Must be a subscriber to the periodical in
  order to access Acrobat files of the articles)

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Molecular visualization--a powerful tool for sci
inquiry because

• Allows the learner to see what is happening at
  the molecular level
• E.g. Observing the effects that has a solute has
  on the boiling point of liquid

http//sharepoint.cisat.jmu.edu/isat/klevicca/Web/
VISM/VISM.htmexample
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STELLA

• Commercial systems simulation software
• Strong educator user base
• More info at
• http//www.hps-inc.com/
• Pictured here simulation model for a cup of
  coffee cooling using stocks and flows

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System simulation--a powerful tool for sci
inquiry because

• Asks students to model mathematically a real
  event in the world
• E.g. Research your own endangered species.
  Determine reasonable rates for reproduction and
  attrition. Create a STELLA population model that
  shows this.
• Grizzly bear

http//www.nps.gov/akso/ParkWise/Students/PhotoGal
lery/DENA/wildlife/photoindex.htm
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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

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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 project
• Updated in successive years of teaching as
  instructors gained experience with practicing
  teachers
• Posed as a hypothetical path that teachers might
  follow
• We 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

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Critical attributes of advanced tools

• Competency with the software tool (ACOT model)
• Competency with the scientific data that the tool
  uses
• Competency 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)

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Data

• Follow-up questionnaires filled out online
• Follow-up classroom visit/observations and
  interviews

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Questionnaires

• 35 questionnaires from Summer 2003 and 2004
  reunion workshop participants
• 36 respondents in spring 2006--some duplicates
• A little less than half of the participants have
  responded to at least one follow-on survey

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Follow-on interviews

• 19 interviews, 14 with classroom visits
• From Hawaii to New Jersey
• Starter questions for open-ended interviews
• ? Briefly 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.

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Classroom visits

• Let me see you using one of the VISM tools in
  your teaching.
• Let me see any examples of VISM projects your
  students have done
• Lets talk about any other inquiry based projects
  youve done with your students
• Revisit rationale, obstacles, and professional
  development options, plus see projects (both tech
  and non tech)

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VISM tools--levels of use summary

• 29 of 36 responded
• 2 kinds of adopt
• 1 activity
• Several activities

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VISM tools-implementation summary

• 2/3rds of the responses were GIS or IP
• Significant prior IP use in this group

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Increased abilities with the tools

• Teachers developed further skills in 2 of the
  toolswithout formal follow-up
• Classroom ready materials using the tools,
  follow-up courses, reviewing notes from the
  workshop
• Twice as many responses for more competent or
  same as there were for less competent

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How did they get better?

• Purchase curriculum support materials
• A second workshop, often focused around that tool
• Revisit workshop notes

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Obstacles
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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 as it changes--
• negotiating adequate computer time for students
  to do their work is nonetheless a major challenge
  for these teachers.

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Indirect effects

• 96.8-Better equipped to learn and use other
  technology tools or resources (other than the
  VISM tools) in your teaching
• 71-Raised your status in your school and/or
  district as a technology leader

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Case study examples

• In-depth interviews with 19 teachers
• 1 day classroom visit with 14 of the 19
• VISM tools in action
• Other VISM student projects
• Other engaging science projects
• Hope to get to 25 classrooms total at the end of
  this year (6 more in the midwest)

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Exemplary uses of all four tools by experienced
scientific visualization tool users
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More typical implementations
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VISM tools not yet landed in teaching practice
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Key predictor--science inquiry projects (without
technology)?

• Hurricane houses
• Richards cardboard boats

• Argues against the idea that visualization tools
  support science inquiry?

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Discussion

• Current professional development literature
  argues for professional development efforts that
  are
• site-based
• curriculum-specific
• with significant on-site follow-up

• Project VISM was an effective professional
  development effort that was
• university-based
• with materials that had only general curriculum
  connections
• no significant on-site follow-up component.

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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

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An interesting case

• Teaching at a K-3 school on the Navajo
  Reservation

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• Not using any of the VISM tools
• I believe these VISM tools are valuable tools
  for learning. However, my school has prioritized
  the curriculum to cover reading and arithmetic.
  Therefore I target those two areas when students
  come to the computer lab.

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What effect did VISM have on your professional
development?

• Raised comfort level with computers
• Greater awareness of the possibilities-go
  beyond..
• Creativity--I always remember that phrasethe
  aha momentsand I try to create that among my
  students
• Using the computer as a learning tool.

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Summarizing student experiences using multimedia
and publishing to the web

• Presentation for Vivian Banks Charter School in
  California, where students shared with their pen
  pals
• Presentation (to be published to the web) in
  which students write about that experience
• Kaylas photo and article
• Why publish to the web?

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(No Transcript)
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Curriculum collision?
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AIMS and VISM

• AIMS--a computer assisted instructional program
  keyed to the Arizona testing program
• What value does Norm see in the AIMS program?

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• How these come togethertechnology as a tool for
  humanizing an increasingly technical learning
  environmentis less a collision and more of a
  negotiation that he balances his own sense of
  what is best for his students and what he can
  accomplish within a constrained system.

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Rigor of the study

• Member checks
• Triangulation of findings
• auditable data (questionnaires, interview
  transcripts, interview sound files)

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Study limitations

• No random sample group design in this type of
  study
• Reliance on teacher self report data
• Observations are brief (one day)
• Possible investigator bias (as a person who has
  implemented these tools and an advocate for their
  use)
• How clear is the tie to the overall goal?--draw
  todays increasingly visual learners into
  in-depth study of science/math topics
• Lacking a measure of in-depth study and better
  at simply rating tool implementation

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Rogers diffusion of innovation theory-A
predictable chronology of adoption

• Innovators (2-3 of social system)
• Early adopters (13-14)
• Early majority (33-44 )
• Late majority (33-44)
• Concerned(15-16)
• Distinguished by differences in their tolerance
  for and the time they will dedicate to addressing
  the uncertainties that come with the innovation
• Require different kinds of support

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Support recommendation

• Innovators
• Early adopters
• Early majority
• Late majority
• Concerned

• Stay out of their way!
• Publicize their success
• Focus support here and make it collaborative
• Develop reliable applications of the innovation
• Dont force the innovation

Concern is the VISM approach only workable for
early adopters?
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Formal informal learning
A look at teacher professional development that
better accounts for the interaction between
formal informal learning?
http//life-slc.org/
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Hope vision

• Vision--a larger view of teacher professional
  development?
• Hope--that inquiry-based learning not be lost in
  the current push toward measurable learning
  gains as the only valid way to assess student
  learning

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For more info

• Mike Charles at Pacific University
• charlesm_at_pacificu.edu
• Bob Kolvoord, Project Director, at JMU
• kolvoora_at_jmu.edu
• Project VISM home page
• http//www.isat.jmu.edu/common/projects/VISM/