What happens when a community that has previously had very little or no exposure to the Internet receives Internet access at home? This paper describes a project that provided television set-top Internet access devices to Latino families as part of a project to link the school and home in an inquiry-based science curriculum. The early phases of adoption of the Internet and “NetTV” devices by families are described, with special attention paid to different ways families appropriate and make educational use of the Internet.

The past decade has seen great strides in the design of new learning technologies that support learning aligned with standards-based constructivist and inquiry teaching practices. Though there is considerable evidence that these technologies can help students learn when used appropriately, they are rarely employed beyond the small-scale settings in which they were designed and nurtured. Therefore, they have had only limited impact on K-12 education. This paper argues that a major reason current learning technologies are not being used broadly in schools is that there are incompatibilities between the demands of the innovations being introduced by the research community and the extant culture, capability, and management structures of schools. There are many plausible reasons; we suggest that a primary one is the nature of current research on learning technologies. We propose that research on technology for learning should give expanded attention to a broad range of factors in school settings in order to better understand what is needed to bridge the demands of innovations and the realities of school culture, capabilities, and policy and management structures. As a starting point, we present potential areas for research in terms of the key challenges faced by teachers in trying to use inquiry-oriented technology, by educational leaders in enabling the use of inquiry-oriented technologies in schools, and by researchers attempting research in systemic school contexts. These challenges are derived from our own experiences in the use of technology as part of a large-scale urban systemic school reform project.

article Share on Log on education: Handheld devices are ready-at-handCommunications of the ACMVolume 44Issue 6June 2001pp 15–20https://doi.org/10.1145/376134.376140Published:01 June 2001Publication History 175citation1,522DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations175Total Downloads1,522Last 12 Months6Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Reform in science education is a complex process. Successful innovationsrequire the integration of a variety of different educational activities whileaddressing the system undergoing reform. James Gallagher (2000) commentsthat current “policy makers and scholars are recommending multidimensionalactions that address an array of entities” to produce results in reform (pg. 399).He notes that issues such as teaching all students, inclusion of socio-scientificcontent, involvement of computers, and curricula that place greater instructionalemphasis on scientific processes and on the history of development of scientifictheories are important components of science education reform (Gallagher,2000).However, research on current instructional reform efforts highlights themultifaceted difficulties that accompany science education reform. Successfulreform cannot be based on an innovative curriculum alone. The reform effortmust address several issues related to the organizational culture of schools, thecapability of the educators involved in terms of their understandings andexpertise, and the policy and management structure concerns of the schoolsystem being affected (Blumenfeld et al., 2000). Successful reform requiresinnovators to study and implement multiple issues simultaneously in order tounderstand how to create a capacity to sustain the reform and increase thechances of success (Blumenfeld et al., 2000).Over the course of the 1999-2000 school year, the Center for HighlyInteractive Computing in Education (hi-ce) at the University of Michigan workedto develop reform-focused science curricula. hi-ce has a history of involvement inscience education reform in both urban and suburban settings. The developmentof the science curricula was one component of a larger project called the PrimarySources Network (PSN), a federally funded Technology Innovation ChallengeGrant. The PSN project is working to create both science and social studiescurricula that meet several goals. One goal of the project is to create aframework for understanding how primary sources can be used to supportlearning in high school classrooms and to adapt, design and develop learningtechnologies to support the use of primary sources. These innovative science

Professional development for science teachers is widely recognized as a key element for successful standards-based systemic reform, yet there is little empirical evidence to justify design decisions for professional development. This paper presents both a theoretical model of teacher learning and an analytical framework that employs the model to link professional development to both student and teacher learning. Our approach begins with an analysis of relevant content standards for science learning, and then uses evidence of student performance to gauge areas where focus is needed in professional development. The success of our professional development designs is evaluated using a combination of teacher reflection, classroom observation, and ultimately the re-assessment of student performance. This process is used to inform a continual process of design and re-design. We present two examples of this process in use. The first example describes teacher learning about the use of modeling software by students. The second example is about teacher learning related to helping students master map reading skills related to watersheds. We argue that this form of empirically-based assessment of professional development, linking teacher and student learning, is a key to the eventual success of standards-based systemic reform efforts. Point of Contact: Barry J. Fishman 610 E. University, Room 1360 University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1269 fishman@umich.edu

article Free Access Share on Log on education: the three Ts of elementary education Authors: Elliot Soloway Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Univ. of Michigan, Ann ArborView Profile , Cathleen Norris Univ. of North Texas, Denton Univ. of North Texas, DentonView Profile , Phyllis Blumenfeld Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Univ. of Michigan, Ann ArborView Profile , Ron Marx Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Univ. of Michigan, Ann ArborView Profile , Joe Krajcik Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Univ. of Michigan, Ann ArborView Profile , Barry Fishman Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor Univ. of Michigan, Ann ArborView Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 43Issue 12Dec. 2000pp 15–19https://doi.org/10.1145/355112.355116Published:01 December 2000Publication History 3citation2,202DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations3Total Downloads2,202Last 12 Months22Last 6 weeks5 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteView all FormatsPDF

The Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS) is implementing a professional development program for science teachers to enact science curricula in a systemic reform initiative. This paper proposes a design approach for professional development in science education as a valuable way to re-conceptualize the process of fostering teacher learning. The paper presents an argument that professional development in science education, as a whole, has not been grounded in empirical research, and there is therefore a lack of sound design principles upon which to base professional development programs. One possible design model for professional development is posed in the context of the LeTUS systemic reform work, and evidence is given that illustrates the initial success of the model.

Inquiry is an essential component of science. NRC (1996) argues that inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science. Teachers focus inquiry predominantly on real phenomena, in classrooms, outdoors, or in laboratory settings, where students are given investigations or guided toward fashioning investigations that are demanding but within their capabilities. Technology can play a central role in implementing those standards. The new computational and communications technologies afford students an opportunity to engage in serious inquiry.

Recent reforms in science education call for curriculum designed to support student's construction of knowledge through inquiry. Teachers need to learn new methods and content to enact reform-based curriculum. Educative curriculum material designed to address teacher learning as well as student, is one potential vehicle. Our work is embedded in an ongoing urban systemic initiative of a large public school district to reform science education. As part of this effort, science curriculum materials were developed that were consistent with constructivist ideas, addressed national and local goals for student learning and educative for teachers. Three middle- school teachers with limited experience with physics and project-based science enacted a 10 week, force and motion unit using educative curriculum materials. Classes were videotaped daily and teachers were interviewed periodically throughout the unit. Through qualitative analysis across data sources we found teachers used and learned from educative features in the materials. In addition, educative features addressing pedagogical content knowledge were used more often and more effectively than those that addressed either pedagogical or content knowledge. Our work indicates educative curriculum can facilitate teacher learning necessary for improved practice and informs development of materials for all teachers as well as those participating in urban reform.

As students are engaged in sustained inquiry supported by technology various challenges arise.One particular challenge is how to introduce learning technologies within a currently enacted curriculum.To meet this challenge student supports must both be imbedded within the technology itself (intrinsic supports) as well as within the classroom (extrinsic supports).Learner centered design research (Soloway 1996;Stratford, 1996, Jackson, et al., 1996) has described several intrinsic supports which facilitates students in learning technologies.This study extends this line of research on the issues of imbedding learning technologies by concentrating on the classroom supports that enables technology to be introduced seamlessly within a curriculum.The technology utilized in this study is a dynamic modeling tool, Model-It, that allows the learner to plan, build, and test dynamic qualitative models.

rkover a period of time. Describing problems students encounter as they engage in inquiry andfinding ways to ameliorate those problems has received considerable attention recently (Hmelo& Williams, [Special Issue, JLS], 1998; McGilly, 1994, Blumenfeld et al, 1998). In this paper,we describe inquiry in more detail, discuss ways to aid students via instructional, curriculum, and1. In Minstell, J. Van Zee, E. (Eds.) Inquiry into inquiry: Science learning and Teaching,American Association...

The Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS) is implementing a professional development program for science teachers to enact science curricula in a systemic reform initiative. This paper proposes a design approach for professional development in science education as a valuable way to re-conceptualize the process of fostering teacher learning. The paper presents an argument that professional development in science education, as a whole, has not been grounded in empirical research, and there is therefore a lack of sound design principles upon which to base professional development programs. One possible design model for professional development is posed in the context of the LeTUS systemic reform work, and evidence is given that illustrates the initial success of the model.