Fostering Distributed Science Learning Through Collaborative Technologies

TACTICS (French and Spanish acronym standing for Collaborative Work and Learning in Science with Information and Communications Technologies) is an ongoing project aimed at investigating a distributed community of learning and practice in which information and communications technologies (ICT) take the role of collaborative tools to support social construction of knowledge. This community is composed of researchers, graduate students, and high-school teachers and their students, from six schools and four universities in Canada and Mexico. It set out in fall 2000 to develop a community around the general topic of integrating concepts in science school subjects. Once a prototype community is established, it can become a terrain where different aspects could be studied. Subsequently, researchers could gradually take a back seat allowing as well as ensuring the autonomy of the school members involved and, thereby, the viability of the learning community. The set up of the proposed prototype distributed science learning community was therefore an essential yet far from trivial first step. This paper discusses the process of setting up the community and the lessons learned.     

在博物馆、科学中心和展览馆中利用数字技术学习

本文以博物馆和展览馆等利用数字化技术所提供的学习为综述对象,描述了博物馆学习的相关理论及发展;对在博物馆内、外利用数字化技术进行学习的趋势进行了预测;并针对未来发展趋势,对博物馆学习的设计者和开发者提供了相关建议。     

Learning with Web Tools, Simulations, and Other Technologies in Science Classrooms

This position paper proposes the enhancement of teacher and student learning in science classrooms by tapping the enormous potential of information communication and technologies (ICTs) as cognitive tools for engaging students in scientific inquiry. This paper serves to challenge teacher-held assumptions about students learning science ‘from technology’ with a framework and examples of students learning science ‘with technology’. Whereas a high percentage of students are finding their way in using ICTs outside of school, for the most part they currently are not doing so inside of school in ways that they find meaningful and relevant to their lives. Instead, the pedagogical approaches that are most often experienced are out-of-step with how students use ICTs outside of schools and are not supportive of learning framed by constructivism. Here we describe a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for better connecting the two worlds of students’ lives: life in school and life outside of school. This position paper is in response to the changing landscape of students’ lives. The position is transformative in nature because it proposes the use of cyber-enabled resources for cultivating and leveraging students new literacy skills by learning ‘with technology’ to enhance science learning.     

Designing a Deeply Digital Science Curriculum: Supporting Teacher Learning and Implementation with Organizing Technologies

This paper examines the impacts of technology (e.g., Chromebooks, Google Drive) on teacher learning and student activity in the development and implementation of a deeply digital high school biology unit. Using design-based implementation research, teachers co-designed with researchers and curriculum specialists a student-centered unit aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that utilizes classroom technology. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to understand the barriers that inhibit the implementation of a digital curriculum as well as the extent that teachers engage in the design process and begin to make shifts in their practice. We found that through the co-design process teachers began to shift their knowledge of NGSS, technology implementation, and adapted to tensions and barriers inherent in the process.     

语料库技术在计算机英语学术词汇习得中的应用

信息通信技术的发展为语言学研究和外语学习方式带来了变革。语料库技术彻底改变了从前词表编制耗时费力的状况,不仅使基于大规模语料的词表编制成为可能,更改变了外语学习者传统的词汇学习方式。该文通过自建语料库的方式,探究了计算机专业学术英语词汇的使用特征以及语料库技术在专业学术英语词汇习得中的应用。     

语料库技术在计算机英语学术词汇习得中的应用

信息通信技术的发展为语言学研究和外语学习方式带来了变革.语料库技术彻底改变了从前词表编制耗时费力的状况,不仅使基于大规模语料的词表编制成为可能,更改变了外语学习者传统的词汇学习方式.该文通过自建语料库的方式,探究了计算机专业学术英语词汇的使用特征以及语料库技术在专业学术英语词汇习得中的应用.     

Uncovering the Potential: The Role of Technologies on Science Learning of Middle School Students

There is, no doubt, untapped potential in using technological tools to enhance the understanding of science concepts. This study examines the potential by observing 7th and 8th grade middle school students’ (n = 23) use of portable data collection devices in a nine-week elective class, Exploring Technologies. Students’ use of the data collection devices and subsequent interactions were traced through audiocassette and videocassette recordings, field notes, and student artifacts. The culminating activity for the course was a scientific investigation that required students to use the technologies to answer student-selected research questions. To illustrate the use of technology as a mediatory tool, an inquiry investigation of three student groups is described. In examining the three groups of middle school students the researchers encountered specific evidence of technology maximizing students’ science learning. The students were able to use the portable data collection devices in their investigations as they discussed scientific ideas related to temperature and heat. The study’s findings indicated that the three student groups were able to use the tools to conduct scientific inquiry and engage in scientific discourse. Further research on instructional approaches that allow students to develop expertise by using technology as tools to construct knowledge about complex phenomena is encouraged.     

教育技术:系统方法与媒体技术的整合

运用教育技术的目的是促进远程学习者对知识的感知与认知。若将教育技术视为系统，可分解为抽象的概念子系统和具体的物质子系统。前者为实现教育、教学过程最优化的系统方法；后者则为印刷媒体、广播电视媒体，计算机网络媒体等多种媒体的软硬件设计、制作及使用。必须走出教育技术即媒体技术的认识误区。教育技术的核心是系统方法而不是媒体技术，前后两者间具有理论指导实践的关系。     

用科学理论研究技术问题时强化建立模型的概念

化工原理是一门化工技术基础课程。该课程的内容是利用某些自然科学的原理,研究化学工程中通用的基本规律,研究分析各种化工单元操作的基本原理和典型化工设备的结构原理,给出工艺过程设计和设备设计的计算方法。化工原理课程研究化工过程中的原理及规律时,多采用建立“模型”的工程研究方法。正确地建立所研究对象的模型是描述问题和解决问题的关键,是工程思想方法的精髓。在课程教学中强化研究工程问题时建立模型的概念,对于培养学生利用基础科学理论研究工程问题的能力,建立工程思想方法有着重要的意义。     

Cloud Pedagogy: Utilizing Web-Based Technologies for the Promotion of Social Constructivist Learning in Science Teacher Preparation Courses

The new guidelines for science education emphasize the need to introduce computers and digital technologies as a means of enabling visualization and data collection and analysis. This requires science teachers to bring advanced technologies into the classroom and use them wisely. Hence, the goal of this study was twofold: to examine the application of web-based technologies in science teacher preparation courses and to examine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of “cloud pedagogy”—an instructional framework that applies technologies for the promotion of social constructivist learning. The study included university teachers (N = 48) and pre-service science teachers (N = 73). Data were collected from an online survey, written reflections, and interviews. The findings indicated that university teachers use technologies mainly for information management and the distribution of learning materials and less for applying social constructivist pedagogy. University teachers expect their students (i.e., pre-service science teachers) to use digital tools in their future classroom to a greater extent than they themselves do. The findings also indicated that the “cloud pedagogy” was perceived as an appropriate instructional framework for contemporary science education. The application of the cloud pedagogy fosters four attributes: the ability to adapt to frequent changes and uncertain situations, the ability to collaborate and communicate in decentralized environments, the ability to generate data and manage it, and the ability to explore new venous.     

西部贫困县农科学员现代教育技术使用调查及研究

贫困地区农科学员在远程开放教育的学习条件、指导教师等方面存在着明显的困难，本通过对云南国家级贫困县（江城彝族、哈尼族、拉祜族自治县）的农科学员学习状况的调查，提出了从实际出发，因地制宜，建立以当地农科专家担任的引导员制度，成立农科学习协作小组，提高学员的学习兴趣，巩固学员的学习成果，使其顺利完成远程开放教育学习的方法。     

基于Internet的模拟实验考试系统的实现技术

网络考试系统是提供教学效果反馈信息的有效途径,本文提出一种基于Internet实现实验操作考试的方法,并通过教学实例分析讨论了开发模拟实验考试系统的结构框架及关键技术。     

发展科学教育 培育科学文化

中国的科学教育已走过百年历程,起到了十分重要的教育作用。但总的来说,我国的科学文化还很不发达,科学教育程度不够。为了改变这一现状,我们需要从三个方面进行努力:第一,全面理解科学教育,树立正确的科学价值观;第二,培育积极完整的科学文化;第三,创造和谐、自由的科研环境。     

Philosophy of Science and School Science

The purpose of professional education programs is to prepare aspiring professionals for the challenges of practice within a particular profession. These programs typically seek to ensure the acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills, as well as providing opportunities for their application. While not denying the importance of knowledge and skills, this paper reconfigures professional education as a process of becoming. Learning to become a professional involves not only what we know and can do, but also who we are (becoming). It involves integration of knowing, acting, and being in the form of professional ways of being that unfold over time. When a professional education program focuses on the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills, it falls short of facilitating their integration into professional ways of being. In addition, through such a focus on epistemology (or theory of knowing), ontology (or theory of being) is overlooked. This paper explores what it means to develop professional ways of being where the focus is becoming, not simply knowing as an end in itself.