UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON - COLEGE OF EDUCATION

The Design and Study of Innovative Learning Environments

Curriculum & Instruction 588 - Spring 2000

Dr. Philip Bell

Go to the On-line Class Discussion

WEEK 10 - Digital Manipulatives & Computational Media - June 1

readings

• Resnick, M., Eisenberg, M. & Berg, R. (1999). Learning with Digital Manipulatives: A New Generation of Fröbel Gifts for Exploring "Advanced" Mathematical and Science Concepts (research proposal).
  • There are various projects that center around digital manipulatives affiliated with the Epistemology and Learning Group at the MIT Media Lab.
• diSessa, A. A. (in press). Changing Minds: Computers, Learning & Literacy. (Chapter 1: Computational media and new literaciesñThe very idea).
  • The Boxer Project has been exploring the design of a "computational media" for "real people" (not just computer scientists) for over ten years; Boxer is a tapestry on which you can author your personal computational ideas (as opposed to "a programming environment"); their current incarnation (that runs on Macintosh) can be downloaded for trial use.

• design-study paper: Sabelli & Dede (in press). Integrating Educational Research and Practice: Reconceptualizing the Goals and Process of Research to Improve Educational Practice.

in-class exercise

• You have spent the quarter researching and conceptualizing a design for a novel learning environment. As the final design exercise, conceive of and propose a research study that you would want to conduct within your learning environment (if it actually existed). Frame out the research questions that would guide your study, perhaps hypotheses related to what your study might reveal, and methodologies that you might employ. Looking over the papers in the course might be useful for this exercise, especially the "design-study" papers.

links

• The StarLogo Project has created a general modeling environment that is an evolved version of the original Logo environment; the software allows students to develop dynamic models of complex phenomena in the world (traffic jams, artificial ant colonies, disease transmission, ...); it comes out of the Epistemology and Learning Group at the MIT Media Lab.
• AgentSheets is a modeling and simulation tool that uses visual programming rules to create the models (rather than text declarations as in traditional programming); the software is very general and has been used to create a range of educational artifacts (including a package focused around programmable bricks called LegoSheets)
• Microworlds is a Logo-based curriculum construction kit that is commercially available; a trial version is available

optional reading

• Resnick et al. (1998). Digital Manipulatives: New Toys to Think With.

WEEK 9 - Knowledge Representation Tools - May 25

readings

• Turoff, M., Hiltz, S. R., Bieber, M., Fjermestad, J., & Rana, A. (1999). Collaborative Discourse Structures in Computer Mediated Communications.
• Bell, P. (in press). Using argument representations to make thinking visible for individuals and groups. In T. Koschmann, R. Hall & N. Miyake (Eds.), Computer Support for Collaborative Learning 2: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • The KIE and SCOPE projects are exploring the use of the SenseMaker argumentation tool with students and natural scientists for representing the details of current scientific controversies; you can download a trial version of SenseMaker (for Mactintosh).

• design-study paper: Pea, R. D. (1993). Practices of distributed intelligence and designs for education. In G. Salomon (Ed.), Distributed cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations, (pp. 47-87). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

in-class exercise

• Now that you have a prototype of aspects of the technology involved with your learning environment, think about things apart from the technology that you believe would be useful (or even necessary) for your learning environment. Compose short paragraph descriptions of these items in "the package" and describe how the components are related to each other (e.g., embedded assessments might measure aspects of how students are using the technology you designed).

links

• The Belvedere Project creates tools and curriculum projects for groups to collaborate and co-construct argument representations about specific topics; check out the tour of Belvedere
• There are also some concept mapping software tools that can be downloaded -- Inspiration (with a trial version available) and various other concept mapping tools from the Meaningful Learning Research Group

WEEK 8 - Virtual Communities III: The Study of On-Line Interaction - May 18

readings

• Kolko, B. & Reid, E. (1998). Dissolution and Fragmentation.
• Herring, S. (1994). Gender Differences in Computer Mediated Communication: Bringing Familiar Baggage to the New Frontier.

• design-study paper: Salomon, G. (1990). Studying the flute and the orchestra: Controlled experimentation vs. whole classroom research on computers. International Journal of Educational Research, 14, 37-47.

in-class exercise

• Select one of your scenarios and develop a paper prototype of your learning environment (as described in the Rettig article from week 6). Bring the prototype to class along with materials for making changes to your design.

links

• Tapped-In - Check out this on-line professional development community for teachers. It is possible to browse the community as a "guest." You can also read about the evolution of the community (among several other papers that are available).

WEEK 7 - Virtual Communities II: Fostering Educational Communities & Designing Social Media - May 11

readings

• Riel, M. (1998). Learning Communities Through Computer Networking.
• Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (in press). Schools as Knowledge Building Organizations.
• Donath, J. Karahalios, K. & Viégas, F. (1999). Visualizing Conversation. (skim this paper)

• design-study paper: diSessa, A. A. (1995). Epistemology and systems design. In A. A. diSessa, C. Hoyles, R. Noss, and L. Edwards (Eds.), Computers and Exploratory Learning. Berlin: Springer Verlag.

in-class exercise

• Now that you have some grounding in the relevant prior research that has been done related to your project, come up with some specific depictions about how your audience with use your learning environment. Specifically, craft two or three target "scenarios-of-use" as described in class. This will require becoming fairly specific about the practices you are envisioning with your learning environment. Also, take this as an opportunity to think about what specific forms of support might be useful to your audience in accomplishing these scenarios.

links about fostering on-line communities

• Think about the following "design principles" for on-line communities:
  • Design principles for online communities by Peter Kollock
  • Nine principles for making virtual communities work by Mike Godwin, Wired
  • Community Analysis Template and the related excerpts from the Community Building on the Web book (e.g., more on the design principles)
  • 10 Tips for Building On-Line Communities - some "back of the envelope" type observations about fostering on-line communities

optional reading

• Kling (1996) - Social Relationships in Electronic Forums: Hangouts, Salons, Workplaces and Communities
• Rheingold (1993) - The Virtual Community (the entire popular press book about this subject is now on-line)

WEEK 6 - Virtual Communities: "Communities in what sense?" - May 4

readings

• Jones, S. (1998). Information, Internet, and Community: Notes Toward an Understanding of Community in the Information Age.
• Agre, P. (1998). Designing Genres for New Media: Social, Economic, and Political Contexts.

• design-study paper: Rettig (1994). Prototyping for Small Hands.

in-class exercise

• Now that you have identified and fleshed out your project idea, do some background research that would be relevant to the project. First, identify and look up a relevant collection of papers from the research literature (by searching databases or following references in papers). Skim (or read) the papers and create an annotated bibliography of the colleciton. Your annotations should be focused on how the papers are relevant to the project you have in process. Bring copies of your annotated bibliography to share with the class. Second, also identify individuals (students, experts, researchers) that could also help you inform the design of your project. They might be part of your target audience for the design or someone who otherwise has insight into some aspect of your project. Conduct informal interviews with them about your project and your design direction.

links

• Explore one of the on-line communitieis from the Electronic Learning Communities research project founded by Amy Bruckman (who's dissertation focused on the Moose Crossing community)

WEEK 5 - No Class (due to AERA conference) - April 27

WEEK 4 - Microworlds & Simulations - April 20

readings & links

• Roschelle, J., Kaput, J., & Stroup, W. (in press). SimCalc: Accelerating students' engagement with the mathematics of change. In M. J. Jacobsen & R. B. Kozma (Eds.), Learning the sciences of the 21st century: Research, design, and implementing advanced technology learning environments .Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
  • Check out: The Simulations for Calculus Learning (SimCalc) Project - they create interactive simulations that involve an interplay of the software visualizations and physical experience; simulations are embedded into curriculum for calculus reform
• White, B. Y. & Frederiksen, J. R. (1998). Inquiry, modeling and metacognition: Making science accessible to all students. Cognition and Instruction.
  • Check out: The ThinkerTools Project - the approach uses a sequence of increasingly sophisticated microworlds to help students understand force and motion; you can download the ThinkerTools activities and software (it runs on the MacOS)

• design-study paper: Soloway et al. (1996). Learning Theory in Practice: Case studies of Learner-Centered Design.
  • Check out: Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education (Hi-CE) - they create a range of software tools and curriculum

in-class exercise

• Before class, identify the course design project that you will focus on this quarter. The idea might come from your list that you shared in class. You might partner with another person in the class on one of their ideas. Or, you can come up with a new project idea this week. Bring an elaborated description of the project idea, the target audience (and what you know about them that might be relevant), and the specific educational goals of the project (i.e., what you are trying to accomplish with the design). Building on the notion of scaffolding in the Woods et al. article, start thinking about what you might want to support in the environment. You can model your descriptions of scaffolding after those presented at the end of that article. You might scaffold interaction, thinking, inquiry or other aspects of your environment. Don't be constrained by the tutoring forms of scaffolding.

more links

• The StarLogo Project has created a general modeling environment that is an evolved version of the original Logo environment; the software allows students to develop dynamic models of complex phenomena in the world (traffic jams, artificial ant colonies, disease transmission, ...); it comes out of the Epistemology and Learning Group at the MIT Media Lab
• AgentSheets is a modeling and simulation tool that uses visual programming rules to create the models (rather than text declarations as in traditional programming); the software is very general and has been used to create a range of educational artifacts (including a package focused around programmable bricks called LegoSheets)
• Microworlds is a Logo-based curriculum construction kit that is commercially available

WEEK 3 - Learning Partners - April 13

readings & links

• Linn, M. C., Bell, P., & Hsi, S. (1998). Using the internet to enhance student understanding of science: The knowledge integration environment. Interactive Learning Environments, 6(1-2), 4-38.
  • Check out: The Deformed Frogs Web-Based Project - a web-based project that captures a current scientific controversy; it is from the Deformed Frog Forum from the SCOPE project
  • Check out: The How Far Does Light Go? debate project mentioned in the paper

ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO PAPERS:

• Salomon, G. (1993). On the nature of pedagogic computer tools: The case of the writing partner. In S. P. Lajoie & S. J. Derry (Eds.), Computers as cognitive tools (pp. 179-196). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
• Reiser, B., Tabak, I., Sandoval, W. A., Smith, B. K., Steinmuller, F. & Leone, A. J. (in press). BGuILE: Strategic and conceptual scaffolds for scientific inquiry in biology classrooms.
  • Check out: The BGuILE Project - a scaffolded software suite and set of classroom activities focused on helping high school students develop explanations of complex biological scenarios; if you're interested, there's a dissertation by Bill Sandoval available on-line that goes into quite a bit of detail about the project

• design-study paper: Wood, D., Bruner, J. & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving.

in-class exercise

• Come to class with at least three design project ideas fleshed out for your course project. In class we will explore your ideas and try to form design teams.

more links

• Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE) - the focus of the Linn et al. paper; KIE is an integrated suite of software tools (for the Macintosh platform) focused on using Web resources as part of a sustained-inquiry, project-based curriculum approach
• Web-based Integrated Science Environment (WISE) - the Web-based successor to KIE; WISE has a growing number of Web-based curriculum projects available on-line
• Computer as Learning Partner Project (CLP) - a curriculum and software development effort focused on thermodynamics, light, and sound for middle school students; the central piece of software, E-LabBook, scaffolded students' lab-based inquiry by prompting them to reflect on their understanding and supporting them in the construction of pragmatic science principles as they conducted labs; view the CLP research classroom (needs the QuickTime plug-in installed)
• The Collaboratory Notebook from the CoVis Project - a scaffolded science notebook for groups of students working together

WEEK 2 - Framing Issues: Educational Innovation, Research & Technology - April 6

readings

• Salomon, G., & Perkins, D. (1996). Learning in wonderland: What do computers really offer education? In S. T. Kerr (Ed.), Technology and the Future of Schooling (Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 95th, Pt 2). Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
• Oakes, J. (1995). Normative, technical, and political dimensions of creating new educational communities. In J. Oakes (Ed.), Creating New Educational Communities (Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 94th, Part I). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• design-study paper: Brown, A. L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2, 141-178.

relevant links

• On-Line Presentation: Rogoff, B. - Learning as Transformation of Participation in Sociocultural Activity. Available on-line at: http://stanford-online.stanford.edu/cscl/main.html. This is a useful introduction to a current perspective on learning. It requires Microsoft Media player on a Windows machine.
• Science and Design Traineeship Program at Berkeley - of particular note is the draft Field Guide that was jointly constructed by the SanD group
• Design Experiment Session at AERA, 1998

optional readings

• Collins - Toward a design science of education
• Michael Grave's essay entitled "How did we get so smart?" - he discusses how designed cognitive tools can shape our thinking (as he reviews three somewhat recent books)

WEEK 1 - Introduction - March 30

article for class discussion

• Cuban, L. (1996, October 9). Techno-reformers and classroom teachers. Education Week. (Available online: http://www.edweek.com/ew/1996/06cuban.h16)

The web site for this course from Spring 1999 is also available.

Spring 2000. University of Washington.