Learning Scientific Practice in Virtual Environments

9809579 Computer technology is taking an increasingly important role in geoscience education, however in depth studies of how students can best learn from a virtual environment are lacking. With prior NSF funding, Prothero has created a 'virtual environment' for an undergraduate geoscience course for UCSB's large oceanography class of 200 to 300 students per quarter. The PI's - a cognitive psychologist (Mayer), a science education researcher (Kelly), and a geophysicist (Prothero) - will collaborate to determine the effectiveness of learning in this 'virtual environment'. Some of the questions to be investigated include 1) how can educational technologies be used to create a virtual environment that promotes students' understanding of science?, 2) what are the necessary characteristics of a virtual environment that make it an effective learning tool?, 3) how can educational technologies support students' learning of scientific practices, such as posing researchable questions, arguing from evidence, weighing alternative explanations? The results of this research will be used to create a teacher's manual oriented toward middle school and college level teachers of earth science. The manual will be made available on the Web and in other forms as necessary.