Fall 2001
Tuesdays, 5:30-8:10, Marillac Hall G08A
(with selected meetings in the E. Desmond Lee Technology & Learning Center)
Instructor: Joe Polman, Ph.D
Office: E. Desmond Lee Technology & Learning Center, Suite 100 Marillac Hall
Office Hours: Tuesdays 3:30-5pm, Thursdays 3-4pm, or by appointment
Phone: 516-4804, Email: polman@umsl.edu
Web: http://www.umsl.edu/~edujpolm (follow link to “My courses” for materials)
Course Purpose
Educational technology such as networked computers and software can play a supportive role in inquiry-based learning environments. Students will explore the theoretical and historical background, design issues, and pragmatic realities of technology-supported inquiry learning environments. Such learning environments are best planned for and understood as systems involving social, cultural, and material elements. Thus, effective roles for instructors as well as important properties of settings, activities, and technologies will be considered.
Objectives
Required Activities
There are five main activities associated with the course:
1) Attending class weekly and actively participating. These sessions will be devoted to presentation and discussion of readings and other assignments, led by the professor and students. You should notify me before class if you know you will not be able to attend, and as soon as possible if something unexpected arises. Missing more than two class meetings will require makeup work.
2) Participation in discussions on the Mygateway discussion board (http://mygateway.umsl.edu).
Starting after week 2, you are expected to post at least one message per week to discussions of readings on the course website. After the first week, these discussions will be initiated by students on a rotating basis (signup will be during week 2’s class). The initiator must post a message identified by the first author of the reading by Thursday at midnight, and all other students must make at least one reply before midnight Monday evening, the day before class. Please read other students’ responses to the discussion before you post, and make an effort to build on their ideas (we want a discussion, not a set of isolated comments). Before class, make sure and read any emails that are posted after yours, because we are likely to use the online discussion as a jumping off point for face-to-face discussion.
3) Making a presentation of key points and leading the class in discussion of one reading during the semester. These will be the same readings you initiate discussion of on the listserve, and the signup will be in week 2.
4) Participant observation in a field site once a week in Weeks 7-12.
A few weeks into the semester, we will begin working with 8th grade students from Bishop Middle School in Wellston in an after school club that will serve as an example of a technology-supported inquiry learning environment. These clubs will meet Tuesdays from 2:20 to 4:30pm at the E. Desmond Lee Technology & Learning Center on campus or at Greenwood Cemetery. After each session, you will write detailed field notes on your field experience according to a set of guidelines you will receive. Field notes must be submitted by electronic mail to polman@umsl.edu no later than midnight on Wednesday (unless you notify me with a reason for fieldnotes being later than this, you will automatically be docked a point, equivalent to 10%, for the assignment).
Note: If you are unable to participate in the field site during some of this period because of work commitments or transportation issues, I will seek to make alternative accommodations with your input. You will probably need to make some arrangement to attend some of the sessions, however.
5) Completing a research project on the after school learning environment. A project proposal will be reviewed and approved by Week 10, and the report will be due in lieu of a final exam. The research report should be based on your own observations, and incorporate concepts or research from class readings or other literature.
Grading
Grades for the course will be based on work in class and out as follows:
Books
Polman, J. L. (1999). Designing project-based science: Connecting learners through guided inquiry. New York: Teachers College Press.
Feldman, et al., (2000). Network science: A decade later. Mahwah, New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Other readings (journal articles and book chapters) available on the MyGateway course space, under “Course Documents”.
Class schedule
1. Aug 28 Intro
Assignment. Due in one week on Sep 4, to be discussed in class: What would happen if I tried teaching like Rory Wagner? What would change, what might be the same? What would be most difficult, what would be easier? (2-3 page paper)
2. Sep 4
Readings. Polman: Foreword, Chapter 1 (A particular effort at science education reform) and 2 (Expeditions to Mt. Everest: Daily life in a project-based science class)
Class. Discussion of “what would happen” paper.
3. Sep 11
Edelson, D. C., Gordin, D. N., & Pea, R. D. Addressing the challenges of inquiry-based learning through technology and curriculum design.
Polman Chapter 3 (Historical background: Haven’t we tried this before?)
4. Sep 18
Polman Chapter 4 (A teacher’s journey: Finding shoes that fit), 5 (Students’ journeys: Bootstrapping new practices) 6 (Laying the groundwork for projects) & 7 (How structuring activity works)
Begin discussing structure and activities for 6 weeks with after school group starting in three weeks.
5. Sep 25
No class. I will be out of town
Barber, R. J. (1994) Doing historical archaeology: Exercises using documentary, oral, and material evidence. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 191-225.
Continue to discuss online ideas for the after school sessions, using the Cemetery studies readings as reference.
6. Oct 2
Collins, A. Design Issues for Learning Environments
Levstik, L. S., & Barton, K. C. Rats in the hospital: Creating a history museum.
Finalize plans for first after school session
7. Oct 9
Meeting 1 with After School “Science In Gear” group from Wellston MS (8th grade)
Readings: Polman Chapter 8 (Teacher’s time limits, students’ time expanses) & 9 (How the school culture affects guided participation)
Reflect and adjust plans for remaining 5 weeks with after school group.
8. Oct 16
Meeting 2 with after school group (in your field notes, include some reflection on how you think school and our other cultures affect guided participation in the after school club, as discussed in last week’s reading)
Polman Chapter 10 (Coaching active students through transformative communication and encouragement of student voice) & 11 (Designing project-based learning environments)
9. Oct 23
Meeting 3 with after school group
Readings: Carver, S. M., Lehrer, R., Connell, T. & Erickson, J. (1992). Learning by hypermedia design: Issues of assessment and implementation. Educational Psychologist, 27(3), 385-404.
10. Oct 30
Meeting 4 with after school group
Feldman et al. Foreword, Preface, & Chapter 1: Founding vision of network science: Assessment
11. Nov 6
Meeting 5 with after school group
Feldman et al. Chapter 2: Evolving visions: Case studies & Chapter 3: Lessons learned
12. Nov 13
Meeting 6 of after school group
Feldman et al. Chapter 4: Promoting reflective discourse
Last day to turn in short proposal for final paper.
13. Nov 20
Final meeting of after school group (5:30-7pm, report to community)
Feldman et al. Chapter 5: Bringing students to the data & Chapter 6: The internet and classroom learning
14. Nov 27
Reading: Resnick, M., Rusk, N., & Cooke, S. (1998). The Computer Clubhouse: Technological fluency in the inner city. In D. Schon, B. Sanyal, and W. Mitchell (Eds.) High technology and low-income communities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Available at http://el.www.media.mit.edu/papers/mres/Clubhouse/Clubhouse.htm
Possible 2nd reading TBD.
Closing Discussion
15. Dec 4: Final Class Meeting
Evaluations, Student Presentations
Dec 11: Last day to turn in optional drafts of final research paper
Dec 18, 5pm - Final version of research paper due. You may turn it in on paper or electronically as an email attachment