Interactive Modeling and Visualization in Undergraduate Survey Courses Daniel J. Bramer M. K. Ramamurthy, R. B. Wilhelmson, and D. P. Wojtowicz Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

January 11, 2000 Motivation  Teacher-centered  student-centered learning.  Encourage students to become more involved in the learning process – creating a positive learning environment.  Challenge  Develop constructivist environments to get the student to not only comprehend the what, where, and when of a topic, but also ask how and why.

January 11, 2000 Interactive Learning Environment  Integrate interactive modeling and visualization tools into curriculum  Permit students to discover relationships on their own  Compel students to ask why  Engage both comprehensive and analytical thought – much like a real scientist  Role Playing

January 11, 2000 Why Java & Java3D?  Means to include non-trivial interactive elements  Computations performed on local machine – reducing server demand  Write once, run everywhere  Object sharing  3-D visualization environment

January 11, 2000 Java3D  Offers 3D visualization environments to Java programming language

January 11, 2000 Interdisciplinary Example Ekman Layer Winds  Interactive  Grasp 3D concepts  Model reacts to input  Questions help with student analysis  On the web (not 3D)

January 11, 2000 Extensions / Activities Extensions  Ocean  Pressure gradient force  Surface and Geostrophic wind  Combined 3D atmosphere/ocean view Activities  Goal-Oriented (instructor / self led)  Discovery-Oriented (self discovery)

January 11, 2000 Other Multidisciplinary Examples  Convection  Atmosphere  Ocean  Mantle  Currents  Atmosphere  Ocean  Land/Sea Breezes  Kinetic Gas Theory Topics general to multiple ESS

January 11, 2000 Why such topics?  Building Block to many more advanced levels of understanding  Benefits from interactive elements  Difficult to explain in static textbook  Already being done (Iowa St., U. of Wisconsin)  more needed  esp. in lower level ideas

January 11, 2000 Framework / Implementation Framework  Supplement interactive modeling with curricula and activities  Allow students to discover relationships Implementation  Initially on existing framework (WW2010)  Ultimately on new framework geared to allow students to ‘do science’ (Virtual Exploratorium – Pandya et al., 2000)

January 11, 2000 Concluding Remarks  Compelling the student to ask why fosters analytical, more scientific thought  Interactivity enables for learning by doing  A consistent framework of content and inquiries are as important (if not more) than the interactive elements themselves

January 11, 2000 Acknowledgements  This project is funded in part by  National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education Grant #DUE  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Education Technology Board Grant entitled "Interactive Simulations to Aid Student-Centered Learning in Introductory Courses"