LESSONS LEARNED JAMES TREFIL CLARENCE J ROBINSON PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

LESSONS LEARNED 1 THE STUDENTS ARE A LOT MORE COMFORTABLE WITH COMPLEX PROGRAMS THAN YOU THINK THE CURRENT VERSION OF PROGRAM IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL SCIENCE CLASSES

TYPES OF COURSES CONTENT METHOD

STRATEGY TRIED FOR CONTENT COURSES ‘LECTURETTE’ EXPLAINING WHAT WE KNOW USE SINVESTIGATOR TO EXAMINE THE EVIDENCE THAT TELLS US HOW WE KNOW IT

ANOTHER STRATEGY FOR CONTENT COURSES HAVE STUDENTS WORK THROUGH AN HISTORICAL EXAMPLE NEED TO RESTRICT AVAILABLE SOURCES

LESSONS LEARNED 2 THE MOST IMPORTANT FINDING IN YEAR ONE WAS THAT STUDENTS CAN USE SINVESTIGATOR TO EVALUATE INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET STUDENT: “I NEVER THOUGHT OF IT THIS WAY”

FOR YEAR TWO DEVELOP SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF SOURCE EVALUATION FOR CONTENT BASED COURSES DEVELOP HISTORICAL EXAMPLES DEVELOP METHOD COURSE TO USE FULL CAPABILITIES OF SINVESTIGATOR

HNRS 353—THE SCIENCE OF CITIES FIRST 7 WEEKS– HOW DID CITIES DEVELOP FINAL 8 WEEKS– USE SINVESTIGATOR TO DEAL WITH QUESTIONS WHOSE ANSWERS ARE NOT KNOWN –e.g. ENERGY FUTURES

WE WILL PURSUE TWO OBJECTIVES NEXT YEAR BOTTOM LINE WE WILL PURSUE TWO OBJECTIVES NEXT YEAR DEVELOP SOURCE EVALUATION TOOL SUITABLE FOR ANY COURSE EXPLORE WAYS TO USE THE FULL POWER OF SINVESTIGATOR