| Abstract: | We compare results of two different educational projects in which high school students manipulate computer models of physical systems derived from current science research. The first project developed a complete set of educational materials from scratch (software, hands‐on activities, experiments, and complete manuals) with which students study the growth of random fractal forms in nature. The result is a set of self‐contained educational modules whose software runs on standard personal computers of the early 1990s. The second project added graphics visualization interfaces to actual computation programs used in research on molecular networks, programs that originally ran only on high‐speed workstations (but now can run on recent personal computers). High school students used these workstation programs as supplements in conventional honors and regular high school chemistry classes, thus requiring us to develop fewer supporting and background materials. Both uses of computer models contributed to a change in method of instruction, toward independent student investigations, with the teacher acting as mentor and advisor. The authors are grateful to the National Science Foundation for support under the following grants: MDR 89‐54628 (Applications of Advanced Technology—OGAF), MDR 91‐50079 (Applications of Advanced Technology—WAMNet), MDR 91‐50079 (Research in Teaching and Learning), ESI 93‐53900 (Instructional Materials Development), and ESI 93‐53500 (Teacher Enhancement). |
