Developing Marine Science Instructional Materials Using Integrated Scientist- Educator Collaborative Design Teams: A Discussion of Challenges and Success Developing Real Time Data Projects for the COOL Classroom Ravit Golan Duncan, Janice McDonnell, and Scott Glenn COSEE MA and COSEE NOW

Today’s Talk The development of instructional materials that use Real Time Data (RTD) to generate explanations about important ocean phenomena. The constitution of a diverse design team and the use of an Instructional Design Model Designing curriculum materials that are grounded in Theories of Learning (how students learn science in the classroom)

Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000 IMCS The Mission of the IMCS Education and Outreach (E&O) group is to promote ocean literacy through the development of a broad range of products and services using the unique scientific resources and assets of IMCS. The Learning Sciences Building theory in education through the design and empirical testing of learning environments that are: Knowledge centered Learner centered Assessment centered Situated within a learning community How People Learn Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000

Instructional Design Model Goal 1: Needs Assessment Understanding audience needs and use of scientific data (Giere, 1998)

Evaluation of 1st Generation COOL Classroom Challenges Understanding and interpreting data Acronyms Site outages (need for mirror sites) Next Generation COOL Classroom Solutions Tutorial pages Data explanations Model data sets

Instructional Design Model Goal 2: Design Quality Education Products Work with a design team to develop prototype of online education products

COOL Classroom Design Team The Team Janice McDonnell Ravit Duncan Scott Glenn Jim Ammerman Sage Lichtenwalner Laura Dunbar Carrie Fraser Corinne Dalelio Josh Kohut Brian Yan Jon Pucci Lisa Warden Lessons Carrie Fraser Marine Science Student Laura Dunbar Middle School Teacher Ravit Duncan Science Education Professor Lisa Warden High School Teacher Science Jim Ammerman Marine Microbiology Scott Glenn Ocean Observatories Josh Kohut Coastal Oceanography Graphics Brian Yan Flash Illustration Jon Pucci Flash Animation Bean Creative Inc. Site Design Interface Corinne Dalelio Interface Design Sage Lichtenwalner Web Programmer Janice McDonnell Project Lead

The COOL Classroom Environment Knowledge Centered Inquiry-based and organized around questions/problems Includes hands-on and minds-on activities- both on and off line. Investigations conclude with the development of a scientific explanation Mirrors scientific practice (Duschl, 1990; Donovan & Bransford, 2005)

Student Centered Initial activities serve to surface students’ prior knowledge Investigation activities help students build understandings of the core concepts There are opportunities to reflect on learning and compare initial ideas to final ideas Surface, build, and revise ideas (Driver et al., 1996; Ford & Forman, 2006)

(Black & Wiliam, 1998; Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000) Assessment Centered Formative assessment is critical for learning Reflective journal questions provide an assessable record of student thinking Supports teachers in tailoring instruction to meet students’ needs Make thinking visible (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000)

Supporting Teachers: The Two Views Student View Teacher View Not an online substitute teacher

Educative Teacher Guide (when logged in) In class notes Related Activities Student Difficulties Resources (Davis & Krajcik, 2005)

+ + + Community Centered Scientists Web-based unit Teacher Students (peer interaction) Community Centered

Design work is iterative Instructional Design Model Goal 3: Beta test and evaluate the education products Work with educators nationwide to beta test the online education product We selected 18 teachers from a pool of 237 applicants, for a pilot study! Design work is iterative (Edelson, 2002)

Dissemination of Product: Professional Development Plan Develop teachers’ knowledge through immersion Sustained programs- several days PD with ongoing support during enactment Involve teachers in practicing and reflecting on how to bring lessons to their classroom Train several teachers from the same schools to establish a team effort Gain outside support from administrators and parents Prepared by Word Craft 2005

Summary There are frameworks for design (process and content) Design teams need to support distributed expertise Learning environments should centered around: Students Knowledge Assessment They need to be educative and support teacher enactment The learning environment is situated in a learning community: Student-Teacher-COOL-Scientists work together

Thank You!

Needs Assessment: Understanding Real Time Data Use in the Classroom Why use RTD in teaching? Real-time data makes what happens in the classroom relevant to students’ lives. It connects students to their future as citizens/decision makers, voters, and possibly scientists. We investigated the ways by which K-12 teachers and students use real-time data education products to understand and appreciate the role that the environment (ocean), plays in their lives. Source: Word Craft NERRS/IOOS Front End Evaluation 2005-2006 http://marine.rutgers.edu/outreach/rtd

The 1st Generation COOL Classroom Objective 1: Create virtual access interface for middle and high school teachers/students to COOL room scientists to improve understanding and awareness of coastal ocean science research. Objective 2: To develop a suite of 6-12 grade level appropriate on-line lesson plans that use real-time data from the COOL to enhance science learning (i.e., use inquiry based learning strategies). Ocean to classroom