ITR/EHR: Augmenting Individuals: Tools for Promoting Productive Reflection in Science Learning

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

0218938 Janet L. Kolodner Georgia Institute of Technology Title: "Tools for Promoting Productive Reflection in Science Learning " This project builds on this institution's prior successes with an educational software system called SMILE. This system provides structuring and prompting for students working in small groups or as individuals as they are getting ready to carry out project-based activities and as they are interpreting results and making sense of whole-class discussions. It builds on discussions about the "how-to's" of carrying out activities in class and reminds students what to pay attention to. The software suite, SMILE, includes tools for planning and reporting on several kinds of investigative activities, for reporting on and justifying design ideas, for reporting on and explaining design experiences, and for carrying on conversations across classrooms about each. SMILE's intentions are (a) to help students be productive while working in small groups and (b) to provide the kind of help that will make students presentations to the class more articulate and understandable by their peers. The goals of the current project are: 1) to investigate the hypothesis that relatively simple general-purpose software can be used to promote sophisticated reasoning among students about both content and process and that that same software is useful to teachers in providing them the kinds of reminders that help them better facilitate the kinds of reflective reasoning that result in transfer (a) in the contexts of both Learning By Design and more general-purpose project-based inquiry science classrooms, (b) across a variety of science disciplines, (c) across a variety of grade levels, and (d) possibly, in project-based contexts outside of science (e.g., math, social studies), 2) to iteratively extend the reach of the software tools already designed and constructed to make them more capable and to make them applicable to a larger variety of project-based contexts, 3) to develop guidelines for productive design and use of tools in support of planning and reflection in project-based inquiry classrooms, and 4) to develop teacher materials and disseminate software on the web. This institution's experiences with Learning by Design have contributed to understanding the ins and outs of creating opportunities in the project-based inquiry classroom for the kinds of reflective experiences that lead to lasting learning. This current project will provide additional insights and tools that may be of value in the broader educational community.