Testing computer based high school science modules in a classroom setting

Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2003 by Bartholomew, James W Jr, Carpenter, John R, Owens, Thomas J

ABSTRACT

An investigation of the effectiveness of inquiry based teaching modules for instructing a group of high school physics students was conducted in 5 classrooms. Four teaching modules were tested on junior and senior level high school students. All the modules were in accordance with the South Carolina High School Science standards. Three modules utilized computer manipulation of seismic data and earth physics principles to teach concepts in physics and physical science. All students showed a significant increase of instruction knowledge for all modules. Test scores were unreliable for the modules individually. Combining the four individual tests into a single post-test for all four modules proved to have acceptable internal consistency and to show a significant increase for knowledge level as shown as a difference score between pre- and post-test results.

Keywords: Inquiry, Learning Cycle, High School Science, Computer Based Learning

INTRODUCTION

The establishment of the South Carolina Earth Physics Project (SCEPP)(Hamburger, 2001) as a South Carolina Commission on Higher Education Center of Excellence (CHE) at University of South Carolina allowed South Carolina to implement and adapt a growing national program at a critical time when our state's grade 9-12 science curriculum was being reexamined and revamped. The SCEPP project has four overall objectives that are being addressed.

Objective 1: High school science teachers will have an increased knowledge and perceived importance of earth physics so as to be better prepared to utilize SCEPP resources to address appropriate science education standards.

Objective 2: High school science teachers will have increased knowledge of and confidence in their ability to use state-of-the art instructional and research technology.

Objective 3: High school students will have increased knowledge of natural science concepts so as to be able to meet or exceed the appropriate science education standards.

Objective 4: High school students will have increased knowledge of and ability to use research technology so as to be able to meet or exceed the appropriate science education standards SCEPP was designed so the objectives can be used to guide the actions of the project staff. The actions include:

Creating teaching modules that are tied to the appropriate high school science curriculum standards,

Training of teachers to use these modules to increase the awareness of earth physics concepts in teachers,

Having trained teachers use the modules to increase the knowledge level of students, including their ability to make use of state of the art technology.

Testing to evaluate objective 3, to see if students could learn natural science concepts with the use of the SCEPP modules is what this study attempted to answer.

The Princeton Earth Physics Project (PEPP) first implemented the concept of using seismic data to teach high school science (Clouser et al.,1994, Hamberger et al., 2001). While PEPP was successful in encouraging teachers in several states to use seismic data in teaching earth science concepts in their states on a limited basis, it was handicapped by the technology that was available at that time. Downloading data was relatively difficult for teachers and the number of participating sites was limited. SCEPP uses a "high-density" approach by installing digital seismographs in high schools in 32 of the state's 46 counties, thus providing the connection between students' familiar environment and earthquakes that occur throughout the world on a daily basis. These individual high schools are linked, in near real time, via the Internet to a central resource center at The University of South Carolina so that students and teachers from any high school in the state can access SCEPP data and share experiences with other participants. SCEPP is also developing an integrated curriculum from which teachers can utilize data from the SCEPP network and provide pre-service and in-service teachers throughout the state with the training and support necessary to make optimum use of this unique educational resource.

The integrated curriculum available to teachers currently consists of four teaching modules that use the principles of geophysics to teach physical science concepts. All modules use a discovery-based or learning cycle-based instructional format (Saunders, 1992). The module entitled "Introduction to the Carolina Earthquake Explorer" is used as an introductory module, prior to using any other module. This module covers basic seismology, familiarizes the student with seismic data in the form of earthquake traces and the use of the Carolina Earthquake Explorer, a computer program (CEE) that is the central part of the SCEPP approach. The other three modules can be used in any order depending on how the modules fit into the class curriculum. The modules are entitled, "Detecting the Layered Earth", "Electromagnetism and detecting Earthquakes", and finally "Longitudinal and Transverse Waves". All modules are aligned with appropriate high school science, mathematics and inquiry standards. Among the beauties of integrating seismology and real-time seismic observations into the high school science curriculum is that it provides a foundation from which teachers can address basic principles of both physical science and earth science using a common "horizontally-integrated" resource. Thus, this project has the potential of having a profound impact on the way natural science concepts are taught in South Carolina. While the SCEPP Center of Excellence program will focus on the integration of SCEPP resources and activities into the Grades 9-12 science curriculum, the potential impact of this project on science education in South Carolina is far broader. Through use of the Internet, SCEPP will provide easily accessible seismic data and educational resources that could be utilized throughout K-16 education in the state. Thus, SCEPP also has great potential to become a "vertically-integrated" educational resource for the State of South Carolina.