Cyclone in the classroom: bringing the atmospheric science community into the high school
Abstract
There has been much discussion about the failure of traditional science education to prepare students for careers in science (Halloun & Hestenes, 1985; Rutherford & Ahlgren, 1990). Students may become adept at solving textbook problems, but they fail to apply the theories that are learned in school to the actual phenomena that the theories attempt to explain (Tinker, 1992). This is in large part due to the fact that students don't often experience phenomena in the classroom. They spend most of their classroom time listening to lectures or engaging in cookbook labs (Ruopp et al, 1992). If students are to be prepared for a career in science or to become science literate citizens it is important that they be given the opportunity to engage in the practice of science. The Learning through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) Project at Northwestern University, in conjunction with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and other academic and industry partners, will provide high school students with the opportunity to learn atmospheric science by engaging in the practices of the atmospheric science community. In the context of engaging in studentinitiated science projects, CoVis students will use a high-performance computing and communications network (wide-band ISDN) funded by NSF to gain access to atmospheric science data which will enable them to further their understanding of atmospheric phenomena (Pea, 1993; Pea & Gomez, 1992). Through desktop video-conferencing, students can discuss their visualizations with members of the atmospheric science community.
Domains
Technology for Human Learning
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)