UniSchooLabs Tool-kit

Augusto Chioccariello

Augusto Chioccariello

The UniSchooLabs project

UniSchooLabs aims to improve the quality of science education in Europe. The pedagogical approach is based upon inquiry learning, both in real and in virtual settings.

Augusto Chioccariello

How do you measure mass?

• “HOW much does a kilogram weigh these days?” may sound an odd question. Does a kilogram not weigh just that, a kilogram?

• Metrologists will soon try to redefine the scientific world’s unit of mass (Bureau

International des Poids et Mesures - BIPM)

Augusto Chioccariello

inquiry

We define inquiry as the intentional process of diagnosing problems, critiquing experiments, and distinguishing alternatives, planning investigations, researching conjectures, searching for information, constructing models, debating with peers, and forming coherent arguments.

In science inquiry projects, students communicate about scientific topics, evaluate scientific texts, conduct investigations, ask questions about science or technology policies, create design, and critique arguments, often using technology resources.

Augusto Chioccariello

UniSchooLabs tool-kit

The UniSchooLabs tool-kit supports the teacher in selecting a remote or virtual lab and developing a lab activity based on an inquiry model template.

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Predict Observe Explain

The simplest template for structuring a lab activity is the Predict-Observe-Explain pattern.

Students are first asked to predict what they would expect to happen in a given situation and to write this down, then to carry out some observations, and finally to explainwhat they have observed (which may or may not be what they predicted).

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Which of the two ballswill reach the finish first?

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• At point A, both balls arrive at the same moment

and with the same speed.

• The slope from A to B accelerates number 2 and it

therefore reaches point B before number 1.

• The two balls have the same speed at point C.

• Number 2 rolls faster than number 1 over the entire

stretch from A to C.

Tool-kit components

• Remote/Virtual labs’ catalogue

• Good practices

• Lab activity editor

Remote/Virtual labs’ catalogue

• Since we have a growing number of remote and virtual laboratories being developed, there should be support for the teacher to quickly browse the available labs and select the one that matches the teacher’s course.

• Once the lab has been selected, the teacher needs to allocate learning material for its classroom use.

Lab activity editor

• The research on the use of laboratories in science education highlights several problems and recommends that the lab should involve both hands-on investigation and minds-on reflection, while providing scaffolding for the making of connections between the domain of objects and that of ideas.

• The editor for the lab activity is based on a model for inquiry based science education.

Design inquiry-based science lab-activities

Design inquiry-based science lab-activities

• The map represents the activity of a teacher involved in planning a science course.

• In addition to school’s lab the teacher selects a remote/virtual, using our catalogue.

• Once a lab and the associated learning materials are chosen, the teacher can use the pedagogical editor to design the lab activities.

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Labactivities

Lab notebook

• The lab activity plan calls for outputs of student activities at each stage of the framework.

• These outputs are written records comprising: text, data, graphs, mathematical expressions.

• They are stored in the lab notebook, so they might become materials for reflections and class discussion.

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Select remote/virtual Lab

• Lab selected from the CATALOGUE: Radioactivity

• Learning material: Investigating the Safety of Nuclear Energy Using Real Radioactivity Data

• Data analysis tool: spreadsheet

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Question prediction/hypothesis

What are you trying to find out in this lab?

What question are you trying to answer?

How the strength of the radiation changes with the distance from the source?

What do you predict will happen in this experiment?

What do you think you will see in your results?

The radiation will decrease with the distance

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Set-up & data

Distance(mm)

Trial 1(particlecounts)

Trial 2 (particle counts)

Trial 3 (particle counts)

15 308 290 277

30 101 103 106

45 49 61 60

60 28 28 35

75 23 15 25

90 9 20 13

Measurement time

(s): 3

Why did you choose these distances, measurement time, and number of trials?

To test if the radiation changes with distance and how.

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Data rapresentation & interpretation

What are your initial observations about your results?

Indeed the radiation decreases with the distance

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Tentative conclusions

Does the data you collected give you a definite answer to your research question?

Why or why not?

If not, how would you change your experimental design to better investigate your research question?

There is too much difference among the trials.I should repeat the experiment increasing the measurement time for each distance chosen.