CBLIS Conference Proceedings 2005 Integrating New Technologies in Science and Education
http://hdl.handle.net/10797/14587
2024-03-28T23:00:14ZEnhancing fifth graders understanding of complex ecosystems through a model-based approach utilizing stagecast creator
http://hdl.handle.net/10797/14653
Enhancing fifth graders understanding of complex ecosystems through a model-based approach utilizing stagecast creator
Papaevripidou, Marios; Constantinou, Constantinos P.; Zacharia, Zacharias C.
We report a study in which we designed and implemented a curriculum within the context of ecosystems aimed at fostering scientific modelling skills and enhancing conceptual understanding among fifth graders through the use of Stagecast CreatorTM. We describe how activities supported students to improve and expand their models by adding new information collected from observations and personal knowledge about real-life ecosystems. Paper-and-pencil tests were used both before and after the study to evaluate students’ modelling skills and understanding of concepts related to ecosystems. The data analysis followed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results indicated the importance of the synergy of the study’s goals: to learn about marine ecosystems and develop modelling skills. We found significant differences between students’ pre- and post-test scores, suggesting that our approach facilitated the development of both modelling skills and enhanced conceptual understanding of marine ecosystems of fifth graders.
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2005-01-01T00:00:00ZCreating games or developing programs? Documenting the use of stagecast creator as modeling tool in elementary science
http://hdl.handle.net/10797/14652
Creating games or developing programs? Documenting the use of stagecast creator as modeling tool in elementary science
Louca, Loucas
This paper reports a descriptive case study investigating the use of a computer-based programming environment (CPE), Stagecast CreatorTM (SC) for collaborative fifth grade modeling in science. SC is a non-linear, object-oriented CPE that uses visual program language (PL). The purpose of the study was to investigate and provide rich descriptions of student approaches to scientific modeling through the use of a visual PL. I analyzed student activities and conversations working with SC during an after-school club using contextual inquiry, analysis of student conversation and artifact analysis. The findings suggest that the visual CPE influences learning in a particular direction. The purpose of student work was to create representations of natural phenomena. Despite this, students in the study used SC for creating games. They focused on the overall story underlying their games which they then translated into programmable rules. This was in conflict with SC's object-oriented interface, suggesting that despite assumptions for the opposite, object-oriented interface may pose difficulties to young science learners. However, telling the story of individual causal agents supported collaborative scientific modeling among learners in the study. Programming in SC was much easier than other traditional CPEs, but reading their programs was less tangible.
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2005-01-01T00:00:00ZStagecast creator and webct: an integrated use of computer programming and a virtual learning environment for developing modelling skills
http://hdl.handle.net/10797/14651
Stagecast creator and webct: an integrated use of computer programming and a virtual learning environment for developing modelling skills
Nicolaou, Christiana Th.; Constantinou, Constantinos P.
This paper reports on an effort to use Stagecast CreatorTM as a means for developing modelling skills among undergraduate students taking an introductory course in science that took place in a virtual learning environment (WebCTTM). An inquiry-based curriculum was implemented, which guided students working in small groups to collect and study moon observations and construct a series of successive models of the moon phases using Stagecast CreatorTM. Students’ reflective journals and reports of synchronous discussions were the means for collecting data. The findings show that the WebCTTM platform supported the on-line collaboration among students in the course that was used to help them improve their models through the use of Stagecast CreatorTM. Specifically, students’ groups shared their models with other groups through WebCTTM, and provided feedback about each other’s models, indicating model limitations and suggesting possible improvements. The results also suggest that students believed that the on-line collaboration supported their learning growth as well as the process of developing modelling skills. Students found it extremely fruitful to exchange ideas with other groups, to read and make suggestions for model improvements and to collaborate with almost all students in the course – which would have been impossible without the on-line collaboration tool. Collaboration in learning situations like the one presented in this paper involves exchanging, negotiating and critiquing ideas for the purpose of building new, more refined knowledge. This collaborative process became feasible due to the fact that sharing and viewing Stagecast CreatorTM files through the Internet is fully compatible with web-browsers. We suggest that the process of model deployment was practically made possible due to the combined use of Stagecast CreatorTM and WebCTTM.
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2005-01-01T00:00:00ZSymposium proposal computer-based modeling in science: the case of stagecast creator
http://hdl.handle.net/10797/14650
Symposium proposal computer-based modeling in science: the case of stagecast creator
Constantinou, Constantinos P.; Louca, Loucas; Nicolaou, Christiana Th.; Papaevripidou, Marios; Zacharia, Zacharias C.
There is a longstanding awareness of the need to help students learn about models and modeling in science, and computer-based programming environments are promising tools for this. A computer program can be a model of a physical system, and modeling through programming may make the process more tangible. In this symposium we present findings from three different research studies that used Stagecast CreatorTM (SC) programming environment as the tool for scientific modeling. While the focus is on modeling in science as a learning tool and as an objective, all three papers discuss the importance of SC as a means for modeling in science. The first paper reports findings from a qualitative study, describing the different ways that young learners used SC for modeling physical phenomena, and how students used particular aspects of SC’s interface. The author provides a discussion about advantages and disadvantages of using SC for scientific modeling. The paper includes a number of detailed cases of students’ use of SC, and several short video segments will be shown during the symposium. The second paper describes the process of curriculum development, specifically designed for teaching programming with SC and promoting modeling skills among fifth grade students in the context of developing models of complex sea ecosystems. Results suggest that the curriculum successfully addressed both goals – teaching programming and modeling with SC. The authors draw on the relations between the results and the curriculum design principles, suggesting features that might be supportive for developing modeling skills among young learners.
The third paper focuses on the support of a virtual learning environment (WebCTTM) for the collaboration among pre-service teachers during the process of developing and refining models of the moon phases using SC. Results suggest that collaboration among students turned to be important for the process of refining their models, and students found it useful to exchange, negotiate and critique ideas for the purpose of building refined knowledge. This collaboration was made possible by the combined use of SC and WebCTTM.
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2005-01-01T00:00:00Z