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Inquiry-based Software MicroWorlds : Promoting Understanding and Retention of Concepts

Inquiry-based Software MicroWorlds : Promoting Understanding and Retention of Concepts. Wade Ellis, Jr. West Valley College Saratoga, California. Landow 1993.

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Inquiry-based Software MicroWorlds : Promoting Understanding and Retention of Concepts

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  1. Inquiry-based Software MicroWorlds: Promoting Understanding and Retention of Concepts Wade Ellis, Jr. West Valley College Saratoga, California

  2. Landow 1993 It took only twenty-five years for the overhead projector to make it from the bowling alley to the classroom. I'm optimistic about academic computing; I've begun to see computers in bowling alleys.

  3. Outline • The Story • MERLOT as a repository • Examples: A Contour Map & ALEKS Tour • Models for course design • Brain Research • Adult Learners • Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning • Action/Consequence Reflection & Inquiry Questions • A Methodology for creating materials • Two essential understandings in education • Comments and questions

  4. The Story • I think that things can be changed (improved) • I’m attracted to gadgets: I wanted to use technology in teaching mathematics • Technology was about students learning mathematics (efficiently and effectively) • Students should learn to learn mathematics (or your chosen discipline) • I should facilitate and improve their learning • I couldn’t do it by myself: teams are needed

  5. Things I’ve Been Involved in • NSF National Science Digital Library Visiting Team • ODE Architect software package • 50 hours of Inter. Algebra Videotapes • Taught Online Beg. Algebra Courses • Online Tutorial for Derive • Co-Authored 20 mathematics textbooks • Co-Authored 10 computer software manuals • Used Blackboard and Angel • Consulting on hardware, software and prof. dev. • Developed Computer-based learning activities

  6. MERLOT as a Repository • What’s kinds of things are in MERLOT? • Text • Simulations • Animations • Telling what you should observe • Lessons • And more • What might also be in MERLOT?

  7. Examples • Contour Mapfrom the National Curve Bank • ALEKS Tour • On the Contour Map website, click on the line above [Be patient.].

  8. Brain Research (Kolb & Zull) Active testing Premotor and Motor Sensory and postsensory Frontal Integrative cortex Concrete experience Abstract hypotheses Temporalintegrative cortex Reflective observation

  9. Brain Research • Engaging in a concrete experience • Following it with reflective observation • Developing an abstract conceptualization based upon the reflection • Actively experimenting based upon the abstraction

  10. Brain Research • Experience it • Reflect on it • Abstract it • Try it

  11. Brain Research Bathe the whole learning event in emotion!

  12. Adult Learners Malcolm Knowles makes the following assumptions about the design of learning for adult learners [Andragogy]: • Adults need to know why they need to learn something, • Adults need to learn experientially, • Adults approach learning as problem-solving, and • Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value.

  13. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning • Information - remembering • Knowledge - understanding • Application - applying • Problem Solving - analyzing • Evaluation - judging • Research - creating

  14. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning • Information • Knowledge • Application • Problem Solving • Research • Evaluation

  15. An Action/Consequence Document • Slope Slope is a TI-Nspire document. A trial version of TI-Nspire for eitherWindows or Mac OS X can be found at: TI-Nspire Software

  16. Action/Consequence Activities • Embedding technology in learning activities • Embedding Inquiry Questions in learning activities

  17. Inquiry Questions • When is the length of P1Q negative? • How are y1 and P1 related? • When is the boxed value negative? • When will the value be zero? • Can the value be undefined? • When will the value for a line be ½? • What will happen when P1 and P2 are interchanged? Will that always happen?

  18. Learning Process Methodology • Preparation • Learning Activity • Reflection

  19. 1. Preparation • Why? • Where does it fit in your knowledge framework? • Prerequisites • Goals • Performance Criteria • Language • Resources

  20. 2. Learning Activity • Plan • Key Questions/Critical Thinking Questions (Inquiry Questions encouraging Reflection) • Examples and Models • Application • Problem Solving

  21. 3. Reflection • Self-Assessment • Extension

  22. Learning as a Process • Learning Skills • Reading carefully • Abstracting • Generalizing • Dealing with frustration

  23. 1. Preparation • Why? • Understanding contour mapping will help you in reading such maps when you deciding on paths for power lines or hiking paths. • Where does it fit in the knowledge framework? • You can currently read road maps and hiking trail maps. The ability to understand topographic information superimposed on these maps can allow you to understand the placement of buildings or plan hikes more effectively. • Prerequisites • The ability to read street and road maps. • An understanding of the coordinate plane. • Goals • The ability to interpret topographic maps. • The ability to create a simple topographic map from data. • Performance Criteria • Reading topographic maps. • Language • Slicing plane • Level curve • Contour • Contour map • Resources • Contour map animation

  24. 2. Learning Activity • Plan • 1. Read the Critical Thinking Questions • 2. Work with the Contour map program • 4. Answer the Critical Thinking Questions • 3. Interpret the Applications • 4. Solve the Problems • Examples and Models • Contour Maps (see below) • Key Questions/Critical Thinking Questions (Inquiry Questions) • Why are the slicing planes the same distance apart? • What does it mean when the contour lines are close together on the 2D contour map? • How can you tell which peak is highest from the contour plot? • Could the contour plot be of a set of valleys rather than a set of peaks? • What does it mean when there is a large region at the top of a peak? • Application • Another topographic map to interpret (see below) • Problem Solving • Decide on the steepest ascent to the highest mountain or ridge. Interpret a temperature contour map.

  25. 3. Reflection • Self-Assessment • 1. Can you determine basic features of a region from its topographic map? • 2. Can you determine which hills are the highest from a topographic map? • Extension • 1. What other kinds of maps are there that use level curves? • 2. What kinds of information can you determine from these other kinds contour maps?

  26. Two Essential Ways of Thinking • The Axiomatic Method • The Scientific Method

  27. Bits and Pieces • Social aspects of learning in communities (situated learning) • John Seeley Brown • Tablet PCs and Classroom Communications • Using the Internet to expand the curriculum (American History)

  28. Comments and Questions

  29. References • John Seely Brown, Growing Up Digital, Change, March/April 2000. http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/FEB02_Issue/article01.html; http://www.johnseelybrown.com/mindsonfire.pdf • James Zull, ( 2002). The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning,. • Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. • Dan Apple, and others (2009). Electronic Faculty Guidebook. Lisle, Illinois: Pacific Crest. Electronic Faculty Guidebook

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