1 / 20

Integrating Geospatial Technologies in an Inquiry Energy Unit with Urban Middle School Students

This study examines the use of geospatial technologies (GIT) in promoting urban middle school students' understanding of energy concepts. The research explores the impact of an inquiry-based energy unit supported by GIT and investigates any differences among ability-level tracked students. The findings show that the use of GIT improved students' understandings of energy and increased content knowledge across all ability levels. The students were highly engaged in the activities, and the educative curriculum materials provided support for the teacher's instruction. Contact information and website address for further details are provided.

elsietyler
Download Presentation

Integrating Geospatial Technologies in an Inquiry Energy Unit with Urban Middle School Students

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Integrating Geospatial Technologies in an Inquiry Energy Unit with Urban Middle School Students Violet Kulo, Alec Bodzin, Tamara Peffer Lehigh University Support provided by the Toyota USA Foundation NARST 2011 Orlando, FL

  2. Geospatial Technologies • Map, visualize, and analyze geo-referenced data • Industry, business, education • Enhance science learning • Authentic inquiry • Critical thinking skills • Problem solving skills • Spatial thinking

  3. Energy Unit • Align instructional materials and assessments with learning goals • Used with all ability levels of urban 8th grade students • Use GIT to promote student understanding of the content • Includes teacher resources and content support materials

  4. Purpose of the Study • Examine if GIT can be used to promote students’ learning of energy resources content. • RQ1: Does an inquiry unit supported by geospatial technologies promote urban middle school students’ understandings of energy concepts? • RQ2: Are there any differences among ability level tracked middle school students?

  5. Methodology • Design–Based Research Design • Combines formative evaluation and analysis of the implementation process • Naturalistic setting • Design partnership • Science educators, scientists, instructional designers, classroom teachers • Daily teacher interviews

  6. Methodology • School Context/Participants • Diverse ethnic backgrounds - 54% Hispanic, 30% White, 16% Black • 105 eighth-grade students and one science teacher • 3 ability-levels tracks by mathematics PSSA scores • 19% ESL students • 20% migratory population • 59% reading proficiency and 22% science proficiency

  7. Methodology • Instrumentation • Classroom observation protocol • Pre/posttest content knowledge assessment • Reliability

  8. Exploring Solar Power Plants with Google Earth

  9. Where is the Best Place to Locate a New Solar Power Plant?

  10. Exploring Wind Farms with Google Earth

  11. Where is the Best Place to Locate a New Wind Farm?

  12. Investigating Oil Production and Consumption with My World GIS

  13. Energy Resources for the Isle of Navitas

  14. Wind Layer

  15. Coal Layer

  16. **p < .001. FINDINGS: Student Achievement

  17. *p < .01. **p < .001. FINDINGS: Student Achievement by Content Subscale

  18. 88% on task (engaged) 76% independent FINDINGS: Student Performances

  19. Conclusions • Use of GIT improved students’ understandings of energy. • Content knowledge increased for learners at all ability levels. • Students were highly engaged. • Interview data support that educative curriculum materials helped the teacher to model and scaffold activities.

  20. Website Address and Contact Information http://ei.lehigh.edu/eli/energy Paper available at: http://ei.lehigh.edu/eli/research/pubs.html Violet Kulo vak4@lehigh.edu

More Related