Preventing Misconceptions Arising from Student Use of Realistic 3-D Animations

1. Preventing Misconceptions Arising from Student Use of Realistic 3-D Animations Lauren Ivans (LJIvans@uga.edu) Dr. J. Steve Oliver University of Georgia

2. Preventing Misconceptions Arising from Student Use of Realistic 3-D Animations Using Animations to Help Students Understand Biological Processes Lauren Ivans Dr. J. Steve Oliver University of Georgia

3. Today’s Talk • Introduce the Task and Team • Outline the Problem • Present our Strategies • Turn the Tables

4. What We’d Like to Do • Develop a suite of interactive, inquiry-based, 3D animations of biological processes for high school students • Osmosis • Filtration • Diffusion • Active and Passive Transport

5. A Team Effort Dr. Casey O’Donnell Dr. James Moore Dr. Tom Robertson Dr. Cynthia Ward Dr. Scott Brown Dr. David Hurley Flint Buchanan Dr. J. Steve Oliver Dr. Ji Shen Dr. Georgia Hodges Kyung-A Kwon Lauren Ivans Julie Range Mike Hussey Jared Jackson BJ Wimpey Steven Arnold Rene Standler Anne Westbrook Pamela G. Van Scotter SEPA Project

6. Our Partner Teachers Stella Guerrero Cedar Shoals High School Robin Jones-Walker Madison County High School Richard Patterson Athens Academy

7. Do All Students have Computer Access? • A 2005 Poll found that 94% of U.S. public school classrooms had computers and internet access • The estimated student to instructional computer ratio was 4:1 • Many states have standards for technology use in the classroom Wells and Lewis, 2006. National Science Board Science and Engineering Indicators 2010.

8. Why Bother? The immediate reasons: • AAAS Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy • Georgia Performance Standards • EOCT Exams The long term reason: • To inform and motivate high school students about STEM related careers!

9. Computer Animations Are Wonderful Opportunities… Phospholipid heads are green All Quiet Outside the Cell Calcium Channels are the only membrane proteins For Too Much Detail and Misconceptions.

10. Thwarting Misconceptions: Our Approach • 1. Focus on State and National Standards • 2. Heed the Wisdom of our Partner Teachers • 3. Adopt a Model-Based Reasoning Approach

11. The Case of Osmosis: Meet Clark

12. What’s Wrong With this Picture What is Important in the Picture

13. The Problem of Scale: • If the height of Eiffel Tower (300 meters) represents the width of the vessel wall (endothelial cell): • A water molecule would be about the size of a blade of grass (~ 3.54 inches) • A Sodium Ion would be about the size of a bug in the grass (~ 1.18 inches)

14. Zooming into the membrane won’t help… • If the height of Eiffel Tower (300 meters) represents the cross section of a lipid bilayer then: • The Tall Trees (10 meters) are about the size of a water molecule • A Sodium Ion would be about the size of the Smaller Trees (3 meters)

15. Animating Osmosis

16. Focusing Students on What is Important

17. Hitting The Standards • Students gain an understanding of osmosis and apply that knowledge to treat Clark. • Students collect and analyze data to evaluate two competing hypotheses. • Students select and defend their diagnosis of Clark. • Students test their diagnosis by treating Clark and analyze the results to determine if their diagnosis was correct.

18. Lessons Learned Along the Way: • Focus on the learning and higher-order thinking goals. • Use computer animations to: • Engage students and keep them interested • Focus students on the essential pieces • Make the students active participants in their own learning.

19. How Would YOU Tackle this Problem?

20. Thank You! • Please visit our websites for more information: • http://www.idealbiology.com/index.html • http://www.coe.uga.edu/mse_ideal/ • http://is3donline.com/