Track 1 - SeaMaven: A Web-based Virtual Learning Environment

Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

SeaMaven, a Prototype Virtual Learning Environment The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is collaborating with the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) in a two-year pilot project to develop SeaMaven, a prototype Virtual Learning Environment for studying the marine ecosystem. SeaMaven enables middle school age science students to actively engage in collaborative learning in the environmental sciences through the innovative use of telecommunications technologies. Students access an interactive Web site and take atmospheric and hydrology measurements of the ecosystem off the Georgia/South Carolina coast in near real-time. The project provides a virtual tour of a 5700 square kilometer area of the continental shelf with access to a number of platform-based sensor stations for monitoring environmental parameters. The interactive online sensor displays give students the opportunity to record measurements, compare data, and generate hypotheses based on their observations. Working alone or in groups, students create their own science projects to monitor ocean-atmosphere interactions over a period of weeks, months, or years. The Web site also enables electronic discussion forums on the materials and ideas generated by the experience, and interaction with the scientists for answering questions, hypothesis posing and testing, and determining how the project is proceeding.