Volume 6, No. 1, Winter 2002

Cover | Oslet | Perspective | Handhelds | Probeware | Monday's Lesson | Online Courses | e-Learning | Modeling

Do Modeling Tools Help Students Learn Science?

New Research Brings Us Closer To an Answer

by Janice Gobert and Paul Horwitz

Computer models help students visualize scientific concepts that are not observable in the real world. Researchers have consistently found that modeling applications, such as those used by scientists to predict population growth or climate change, have tremendous potential for science learning. If used effectively, we believe these tools can help improve science learning for all students. However, there have been no large-scale, in-school studies to confirm this, up until now.

In November 2001, we launched Modeling Across the Curriculum (MAC), a ground-breaking $7 million research project, in partnership with Harvard University, Northwestern University, the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS), and the Massachusetts public schools in Lowell and Fitchburg. This project is an in-depth, long-term investigation of the effectiveness of models and tools in improving science learning. The research will involve students in dozens of secondary schools throughout the country. This presents the challenge of determining the best strategies for using modeling tools in large numbers of diverse classrooms.

Once the classroom research starts, we will measure gains in content learning and modeling skills over a three-year period in sequential physical science, chemistry, and biology courses. In each of the three courses we will substitute the standard curriculum units with two instructional modules. Each substitution unit employs some combination of five different modeling tools: molecular dynamics software, NetLogo, Probeware, BioLogica, and Model-It.

Embedded Assessment

The substitution units will be delivered through online lessons. Each lesson is embedded with guidance to help students use the software, as well as an assessment tool that will collect data on student learning. This powerful methodology, developed at the Concord Consortium, is one of the most exciting aspects of the research project. Implemented through our Pedagogica software environment, it affects all aspects of a learner's interaction with the computer. It tailors, as necessary, the available options, the nature of the scaffolding, the instructions, and the assessments. Pedagogica can automatically report, via the Internet, students' progress through a sequence of activities. This provides us with real-time, fine-grained, educationally significant data on student learning. In time, we plan to create professional development courses that will train teachers to use these data as a formative and summative assessment tool. This will help them identify the conceptual areas in which their students are having difficulty, enabling them to provide appropriate "just in time" remediation, rather than having to wait for test results that appear only after the instructional unit is completed.

The Modeling Across the Curriculum project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Janice Gobert (jgobert@concord.org) and Paul Horwitz (paul@concord.org) are senior research scientists and co-leaders of Modeling Across the Curriculum.

The projects described in this newsletter are supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Noyce Foundation and others. All opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies. Mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations does not imply endorsement.

All Contents Copyright © 2002, Concord Consortium. All Rights Reserved.