using webquests & stella with pre-service teachers
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Using WebQuests & STELLA with Pre-Service Teachers. Richard Langheim, Ed.D. Associate Professor of Education Ramapo College of New Jersey. Purpose. Engage in a conversation with educators about developing effective techniques for learning and using systems thinking and dynamic modeling. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Using WebQuests & STELLA with Pre-Service Teachers
Richard Langheim, Ed.D.Associate Professor of Education
Ramapo College of New Jersey
Purpose
Engage in a conversation with educators about developing effective techniques for learning and using systems thinking and dynamic modeling
Outline
Review some literature which supports aspects of the effortDraw some conclusions & reactionsExplain one effort at Ramapo College of New Jersey [RCNJ] to foster systems thinking
RCNJ Audience
Pre-service teacher education [TE]studentsNo background in modelingVaried background in mathVaried background in using technologyNo background in using technology to enhance learning & teaching
RCNJ Audience
Undergraduates or Post-BaccalaureatesNo certified teachersElementary & Secondary candidatesWide variety of disciplinary majorsNo unsupervised classroom teaching
Pre-service TE Students - Kay
Evaluating Strategies Used to Incorporate Technology into Pre-service Education: a Review of the LiteratureRobin KayJournal of Research on Technology in Education - Vol. 38 No.4
Pre-service TE Students - Kay
Review of 68 referred journal articles“…only a handful of studies have carefully and rigorously pursued the evaluation process.”
Pre-service TE Students - Kay
“Given the potential problems, it should come as no surprise that pre-service teachers are perceived as unprepared to use technology.”
Pre-service TE Students - Kay
Kay ModelMultiple Strategies - integration with content, workshops, single course, multimediaAuthentic tasks & modeling the use of technology by faculty and teacher-mentorsAttitude & ability
Pre-service TE Students - Kay
A rigorous research-based framework for developing the effective use of technology does not yet exist.
Bathtub Dynamics - Booth Sweeney & Sterman
o Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory
o Linda Booth Sweeney, John D. Sterman
o System Dynamics Review - Vol. 16 No. 4
Bathtub Dynamics - Booth Sweeney & Sterman
Surprisingly low level of performance by numerous groups of studentsSystems thinking is not intuitive nor easily developed
Modeling - Penner
Cognition, Computers, and Synthetic Science: Building Knowledge and meaning Through ModelingDavid PennerReview of Research in Education, 2000-2001
Modeling - Penner
Carey - weak conceptual change or weak restructuringEnrichment process - develops new relationships between concepts for problem solving
Modeling - Penner
Carey - strong conceptual change or strong restructuring“… holds that people’s intuitive conceptions of the natural world are often at odds with current scientific understanding of phenomenon.”“… a key goal in science education should be to help students restructure or replace their conceptions of the world.”
Modeling - Penner
“In order to use STELLA, students must conceptualize a phenomenon in terms of four types of icons available, regardless of their current understanding and ways of thinking of the phenomenon under investigation.”Advocates use of ‘programmable media’ to model phenomenon
Instructional Practice - Rakes
The Influence of Teachers’ Technology Use on Instructional PracticesGlenda Rakes, Valerie S. Fields & Karee E. CoxJournal of Research on Technology in Education Vol. 38 No.4
Instructional Practice - Rakes
Study of the relationship between the level of technology implementation [LoTi] and personal computer use by teachers [PCU] on (constructivist) current instructional practices of teachers [CIP]
Instructional Practice - Rakes
186 total 4th and 8th grade teachers with 123 voluntary participants11 school districtsRural, southern schools with 20% or more below the poverty line
Instructional Practice - Rakes
“…teachers who scored higher on the LoTi and the PCU have higher levels on the CPI.”Confirms Moersch 1999 study - “…appropriate use of technology can reinforce higher cognitive skill development and complex thinking skills as promoted through the use of constructivist teaching practices.”
Technology Integration - Wright
From Preservice to Inservice Teaching: A Study of Technology integrationVivian H. Wright & Elizabeth K. WilsonJournal of Computing in Teacher Education vol. 22 No. 2
Technology Integration - Wright
Preservice social studies teachersMethods block - pre & post survey of perceptions of technology [22]Student teaching - survey [11] & interview and observations [3]First year teaching - interview one in teaching position and two in graduate school
Technology Integration - Wright
“Overall, participants were more likely to emulate what ‘they were taught’ than to apply individually their own creative technology integration plans.”
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
Using Technology Wisely: The Keys to Success in SchoolsHarold Wenglinsky2005
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
Focuses upon student achievement - NAEP results from 1996, 1998 and 20004th, 8th and 12th gradersTechnology use across disciplines
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
“The effective use of educational technology is enmeshed in the kind of pedagogy employed.”“Constructivist uses of technology help students learn better than they would otherwise,..”“…whereas didactic uses of technology make the technology useless or even damaging.”
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
“The date indicate that, of the nontechnological instructional practices of teachers, it is primarily the constructivist ones that are associated with high student performance.”
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
“In math and science, computer use is positively associated with student performance when computers are used in a constructivist fashion, and is either unassociated or negatively associated with student performance when computers are used in a didactic fashion.”
Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky
“In reading, inferences are somewhat more difficult to make but suggest that when students use computers for word processing for meta-analytic purposes, student perform better, and when they are used for spellchecking or reading stories, students perform worse.”
The Challenge
Introduce students to systems thinking & dynamic modelingDevelop student use of technology as a tool to enhance learning through webquestsFoster a constructivist approach to teaching and technology
A Proposal - WebQuests & ST
Preservice teacher education studentsBuild instructional WebQuestsInvolve using & building modelsExplain phenomenon, model(s) and instructional foundation of webquest to peers, faculty and teachers
WebQuests - Dodge
IntroductionTasksProcessEvaluationConclusionTeacher Resources
WebQuests - Dodge
“The task focuses learners on what they are going to do - specifically, the culminating performance or product that drives all of the learning activities.”
WebQuests - Dodge
Process “outlines how the learners will accomplish the task. Scaffolding includes clear steps, resources, and tools for organizing information.”
WebQuests - Dodge
Evaluation “describes the … criteria needed to meet performance and content standards.”
Examples
Student samples from Systems Thinking at RCNJ
An Example
Meadowlands WebQuestSequential structured series of model using and building activities embedded in a webquest about the New Jersey MeadowlandsEvaluation of teachers during staff development and student achievement after classroom use
• Thank you
Using WebQuests & STELLA with Pre-Service Teachers
Richard Langheim, Ed.D.Associate Professor of Education
Ramapo College of New Jersey
References
Dodge, B. Building Blocks of a WebQuest. Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/buildingblocks/p-index.htm
Goodman, M. (2005). Systems thinking as a language. Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://www.thesystemsthinker.com/tstlang.html.
References
Heinbokel, J., & Potash, J. (2006). Curricular Innovation Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://www.ciesd.org/influence/curricula.shtml.
Kay, R., (2006). Evaluating strategies used to incorporate technology into pre-service education: a review of the literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 383-402.
References
Lou, Y., Abrami, P.C., & d’Apollonia, S. (2001). Small group and individual learning with technology: a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 449-521.
Mason, C., Berson, M., Diem, R., Hicks, D., Lee, J., & Dralle, T. (2000). Guidelines for using technology to prepare social studies teachers. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education [Electronic Version], 1(1).
References
Penner, D.E. (2000-2001). Cognition, computers, and synthetic science: building knowledge and meaning through modeling. Review of Research in Education, 25, 1-37.
Rakes, G.C., Fields, V.S., & Cox, K.E., (2006). The influence of teachers’ technology use on instructional practice. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 409-424.
References
Richmond, B., (2001). An Introduction to Systems Thinking. Hanover, NH: High Performance Systems.
Rakes, G.C., Fields, V.S., & Cox, K.E., (2006). The influence of teachers’ technology use on instructional practice. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 409-424.
References
Booth Sweeney, L. & Sterman, J.D. (2000). Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory. System Dynamics Review, 16(4), 249-286.Wright, V.H. & Wilson, E.K. (2005-2006). From pre-service to inservice teaching: A study of technology integration. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 22(2), 49-55.Wenglinsky, H. (2005). Using technology wisely: The Keys to Success in Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.