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702B Pearson Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 USA Email: tbaker@kancrn.org K-12 Science Education If one were to generalize about the basic instructional model of traditional public education, it could best be summarized as a factory-style model where children are turned out much like a factory product of the 1920's (Callahan, 244). The ideas of a teacher as the principal source and disseminator of knowledge and students as passive receptors of information with eager young minds fully attending are relics of a by-gone past. Today, with the rate at which knowledge advances, the power of telecommunications, and ubiquitous nature of computers (not to forget low cost and ease of use), we have found traditional instruction more inefficient and ineffective than ever before. Since the publication of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) of 1996, K-12 science educators nationwide have been progressing gradually toward a model of instruction that emphasizes a hands-on, research based learning experience in the classroom, typically referred to as Inquiry. As a method of instruction, inquiry draws upon an epistemological learning theory referred to as Constructivism. In it's most reduced form, Constructivism is interpreted in the field of education as a class of learning methods, where students construct their own knowledge, with the aid of a teacher-mentor and resource rich environment. Inquiry has evolved as a predecessor of Constructivism, yet inquiry is more representative of a scientific or naturalistic research process. When emphasizing the inquiry approach to teaching and learning, students are responsible for forming a research question, gathering background data, establishing a protocol or methodology for answering the question, analyzing the results of data collected, and finally drawing conclusions based upon those experiments (Hassard, 210). For such an elaborate procedure to occur, teachers must be comfortable with science and scientific investigations, pedagogical strategies for maintaining the focus of a class that might otherwise drift in this unorthodox environment, knowledge of the latest technologies to support the research investigation and its analysis (Jarrett, 1997). This method of teaching is not commonplace, in fact it is a rarity, and a teacher who can fully orchestrate these processes is even more rare. As such, it is understandable that a pedagogical shift is demanded unlike any ever before proposed in science education. To facilitate this new way of teaching and learning, technology has been called upon in many ways. The tools of technology needed range from Internet access in the classroom (at only 44% in 1998), to the use of desktop and multimedia applications (By the numbers, 1998, 102). With Internet access in classrooms, collaborative research projects are possible, where multiple classrooms and teachers work together to solve a research questions. Such methods could be particularly effective for new or inexperienced teachers, allowing for a safe transition into an exciting curriculum. Some Internet-based collaborative projects vary in their overt use of the methods of Inquiry. Projects like the Monarch Watch (http://www.monarchwatch.org) and Project Feeder Watch (http://birdsource.cornell.edu/cfw/) employ many of the initial stages of inquiry, but seldom advance into data analysis and summative conclusions, areas where critical thinking and problem solving are taxed most heavily. However, it is often these4 online collaborative environments that could reap the greatest benefits from data analysis tools, particularly tools that concentrate on the spatial relationships of the data collected (for example, Monarch release and recovery). Indeed, there are some Online Collaboratives, such as KanCRN (http://www.kancrn.org ), which are beginning to place elements of data analysis online, using Internet-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Geographic Information Systems A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a tool for spatial (having a location component) data analysis. This tool allows for the collection, storage, analysis or manipulation, and display of such data (Slocum, 8). The typical display of a GIS is a map-based image where layers represent distinct components or types of information. These layers can be added in any sequence the user prefers, and based upon the data available to the user, analyses or visualizations can be preformed on that data. In traditional cartography, or map-making, the presentation of static maps is possible. However, it is the ability of a user to interact with maps or the "private activity in which unknowns are revealed in a highly interactive environment" that lead to the term, visualization (MacEachen in Slocum, 11). It is these visualizations that possess the greatest benefit to science teachers and students in their pursuit of data analysis, particularly data related to environmental research. Many of the roots of GIS can be seen from the pursuits of the Harvard Laboratory for Computing Graphics. The Harvard Lab was a Ford foundation project, established in 1966 by Howard Fisher, who was an industrial architect and had set out to create an automated mapping program. Essentially, Fisher wanted to create maps using typewriter symbols that could print overstrikes creating a variety of shading effects. Unfortunately, few cartographers appreciated the aesthetics of the output of the Harvard Lab application, called SYMAP. It was never readily adopted, however it was this early attempt at automated mapping that began to chart the path of computing technologies in cartography and mapping. As a new application, GRID was developed from the Harvard Lab efforts; from GRID sprang a number of our modern GIS computer applications, such as ESRI's ArcInfo and ERDAS's Imagine. Each of these companies now stands as a leader in the field of Geographic Information Systems (Slocum, 16; Clarke, 7-10). With the advent of the Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and increased speed and memory (all with decreased cost), widespread support and adoption of GIS for problem solving and spatial analysis occurred. fact, the user interface of GIS software has improved greatly, allowing for even the most timid users to try their hand at spatial analysis. Today, we commonly see Geographic Information Systems used in a variety of fields and activities. In a single issue of ArcNews, we can readily find examples of GIS in: redistributing state owned lands, law enforcement, utility companies, environmental resource mapping, emergency response routing, public transportation, pipeline industries, and many other fields (Fall 1997).
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