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| Projects 2007 - 2008 Categories: Biology and medicine :: Computer science :: Humanities :: Pre-college education BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE This projects stems from a 2006 planning grant to develop novel ways of teaching biology using modern ICT tools. Bio-HOPE differs from other ICT-based teaching projects in its focus on the scientific method and interactive, engaging, hands-on activities to enhance student understanding of basic concepts. An important feature of this approach is using both virtual laboratory modules and remotely controlled lab setups as sources of information in place of text-based material. This strategy promotes authentic and active scientific experiences by enabling students to ask research questions, propose hypotheses, conduct experiments, analyze data, and interpret results. The focus during academic year 2007-2008 will be to develop learning modules related to unanticipated impacts of global warming on salmon in the Fraser River, the world’s largest salmon producing river. Bio-HOPE will teach multiple aspects of biological organization through the integration of form and function. Team members have begun testing different ways to evaluate the learning outcomes of the teaching material. A critical component is the longitudinal evaluation process. The evaluation processes will be implemented at all levels throughout the project, from self-evaluation on the individual student level, to overall studies of the pedagogic methods. The project content aligns with both the Swedish and US guidelines for science education content standards. CNS Visual Perspectives During the 2007-08 academic year, the project team will further develop CNS: Visual Perspectives (CNS: VP), an interactive three-dimensional atlas of the human brain, to promote its integration into different curricula, from high school science through medical school courses. The use of CNS: VP appears to enhance students' motivation, comprehension of the content, and their ability to learn neuroanatomy. Results from studies conducted in years one and two suggest that proper design and alignment to the particular curriculum is the key to promote successful adoption of the materials into courses and to support student learning. The goal of year three is to evaluate the implementation of CNS: VP in first-year neuroanatomy courses at Karolinska Institute and Stanford University. The research team will evaluate its strength as a tool to support the study of neuroantomy, including spatial skills and deep learning of content. A second track is to examine the sustainability of CNS: VP at a different education level by creating a high school lesson using the new LessonBuilder feature. This lesson will be piloted in a formal setting at Sigtuna High School in Stockholm. In the US, the pre-college lesson will be tested in “Med School 101” a special program for high school students hosted at Stanford and also in an informal education setting at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. The goal of the collaboration is to help students learn neuroanatomy with spatial and deep learning approaches, while identifying key methods to successfully integrate such tools for a wide range of curricula.Learning Radiology in Simulated Environments II Simulation-based teaching methods have been widely adopted in
hazardous professions such as aviation and the military, yet their
use in medical education to date has been limited. This project
is an extension of work performed over the past two years in which
the project team created computer simulations of radiographic examinations
and evaluated learning using these new tools. The group's
achievements during the first two years of funding include development
and testing of the cervical spine and dental x-ray computer simulations
with radiology technology students. Remote University Network
for Human Performance (RUN II) New fields such as bioengineering are exploring the role of the physical sciences in traditional biological approaches to problems, with exciting results in device innovation, medicine, and research biology. The integration of mathematics and the physical sciences into a biology curriculum will better prepare students for these opportunities. The RUN project studies exercise science as the basis for introduction of this interdisciplinary program. During year one of the full project, the research team designed a course model that involves cooperative learning between students at Göteborg University and Stanford University. The course utilized new technologies, encouraged development of original student research, and relied on frequent self-assessment and reflective learning. The research team will compare outcomes between this course and a more traditional didactic format, as well as assess the effectiveness of web-hosted virtual environments. The outcomes should allow the research team to focus on sustainability of the course design through optimization of technology, content and pedagogy during academic year 2007-08. In addition to preparing a curriculum that can be exported to other universities, the project team will begin a natural expansion of this interdisciplinary approach to middle and high school science curricula, using exercise science. They will begin testing this pilot pre-college curriculum during summer 2008. ENGINEERING,
COMPUTER SCIENCE, AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE The primary focus of the iDeas project is research into learning ecologies to support student design activities. Design learning courses feature interplay between times of individual ideation and reflection and times of group presentation, discussion and brainstorming. The research team continues to build the iDeas learning ecology, comprised of the iDeas notebook, the iDeas browser, and the iDeas wall. The iDeas notebook augments the traditional physical design notebook with electronic and mobile capture. The iDeas browser extends the concept of electronic portfolios with integration of sketches, text, digital photographs, and other media. The iDeas wall provides an interactive surface for students to collaboratively create, present and share design content. Evaluations are centered on awareness of collaborative activity through the iDeas ecology and successful learning practices. Enabling design ideas to move more seamlessly between the world of bits and the world of atoms will enable students to spend more time on the intellectual task of design thinking and less time on the mechanical tasks. The research team anticipates that automatic electronic capture and web-based sharing of design content will provide additional channels for peer and student to teacher discussion and learning. They have evaluated the use of iDeas in five courses at Stanford and two at Göteborg, and will continue deployment at both sites.Developing Intercultural Competencies through Collaborative
Rhetoric How best to use ICTs to facilitate deep learning of intercultural differences and effective practices for global communication? During year one, the Collaborative Rhetoric project developed innovative uses of technology, practical lesson plans, and a digital repository of materials to contribute to the fields of intercultural communication, rhetoric, and persuasive technologies. The project benefited Stanford and Örebro through building technology resources for students to develop practical persuasive abilities, while developing intercultural competencies and sensitivity to international contexts, as shown on the project website: http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/ During academic year 2007-08, the research team will focus on
implementation, publication, and the incorporation of additional
partners in Sweden (at Södertörn, Uppsala, and Umeå) and
beyond Sweden to the University of British Columbia, Canada; University
of Sydney, Australia; and University of Cape Town, South Africa.
The Stanford-Örebro research team aims to overcome unanticipated
challenges from year one in technology and collaboration by implementing
improved strategies for virtual exchanges through both a class-to-class
collaboration model and a new workshop model that draws upon associated
partners and also disseminates knowledge to the field. Researchers
will spend considerable energy translating their significant results
into conference papers, articles, and theoretical publications
in order to disseminate findings to a larger academic audience. PRE-COLLEGE
EDUCATION This study will investigate how teachers learn and improve their teaching methods when critical information on student learning of a key topic (multi-digit subtraction) is presented as a design framework, and how students’ conceptual understanding may be enhanced as a result. The faculty researchers will directly study how teachers learn and develop effective learning environments. The findings from the planning study during academic year 2006 – 07 helped the project to develop a research platform for this implementation study. In a collaborative professional development called lesson study, teachers’ thinking and knowledge integration processes will be revealed as they select and develop pedagogical approaches to support students’ conceptual development and learning of multi-digit subtraction. During 2007-08, student-learning data will be collected and compared to the data from the planning study sample. Quantitative and qualitative research methods will be used to examine the relationships among the components of the design framework, the kinds of knowledge teachers bring to the collaborative work, the pedagogical approaches used and student learning of multi-digit subtraction. The ICT tool, in the form of a web-based learning environment, will support teacher collaboration and the professional development process. Virtual Labs Implementation of Interactive
Media for High School Science The use of interactive media in the classroom has been shown to engage students, enhance academic performance, and help educators convey difficult concepts. In science curricula, interactive media can transform classroom instruction, making dynamic processes come alive by illustrating the connections between different disciplines. While the development of interactive media for science education has been fruitful, the adoption of this media has been limited and disorganized. The goal of this project is to consolidate all the interactive science media produced to date from Virtual Labs and other WGLN supported projects, update it for use in pre-college education, and design an implementation plan to successfully bring it into the classroom. The project team will create lesson plans with high school teachers that incorporate the interactive media into their existing science curricula. The researchers will create a framework for implementation of the technologies and will build an infrastructure that will support the continued use of existing and newly designed media in science education for years to come. |
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