Helping new teachers begin to think critically about technology use The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential for Virtual Puget Sound to provide a productive collaborative scientific inquiry experience for middle and high school students, and based on the results, to feed that back into building and improving VPS.

Levels of Use Level 1 - “Counterproductive” -- Technology detracts from user’s experience or is used for trivial tasks Example: Using drawing software to sketch cells viewed under a microscope Example: Using the WWW for a scavenger hunt

Levels of Use Level 2- “Helpful”-- Technology used to perform tasks or support intellectual activity more efficiently than non-tech means Example: Concept-mapping software Example: Excel spreadsheets creating graphic representations of data relationships Example: Students using WWW to create class presentations

Levels of Use Level 3- “Empowering”-- Technology supports intellectual activity in ways non-tech means cannot Example:Scientific visualizations to view typically unobservable phenomena (plate tectonics, tidal rhythms) Example: Inquiry software that scaffolds connections between question design and data representations