integrated, multidisciplinary & technology-enhanced science education: the next frontier ivo d....

Integrated, Multidisciplinary & Technology-Enhanced Science

Education: The Next Frontier

Ivo D. DinovIvo D. Dinov

www.NSER.org

It’s Online, Therefore It Exists!

http://www.nser.org/

Challenges of K-College Science

Ed

Challenges of K-College Science

Ed

General• Geographic• Social• Economic • Technological challenges

Specific• The continuing expansion of

the Intergenerational Information Technology (IIT) divide;

• Social demand for broad, comprehensive and balanced multidisciplinary education.

IIT Divide

•Between providers & consumers of educational materials

•Instructors are more conservative, less willing to explore, validate and/or adopt new IT instruments

•Different from the normative gap of knowledge

•Byproduct of the fast-paced evolution of IT dev

Broad/Balanced

Training•Short-term view favors solid training in one narrow scientific discipline

•Faster

•Cheaper

•Measurable outcomes

•Long-term results may be opposite of expectations –

•graduate & professional schools seek individuals with widespread interests, training & capabilities

Challenges & Actions


• Continuing Instructional Technology Training

• Engagement of Instructors in Science & Technology Research Projects

• Institutional Commitment in IT and Blended Instruction

• Funding Agency Engagement in IT and Blended Education

• Integration of Available Digital Resources in the Classroom

• Involve science educators in continuing technology education training.

• discipline-specific or general societal / organizational umbrellas.

• Most instructors participate in some annual continuing education events within their discipline.

• Few are deeply involved in regular technology-based refresher courses (e.g., < 25% of UCLA Stats faculty)

Dinov (2008) Integrated Multidisciplinary and Technology-Enhanced Science Education: The Next Frontier

, JOLT, 4(1), 2008, 84-93. http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no1/dinov0308.htm

IIT DivideIIT Divide

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no1/dinov0308.htm


http://jolt.merlot.org/

http://jolt.merlot.org/pastissues.html









• State/Federal Science Fairs

• Learn and contribute to new or ongoing research projects conducted by higher education institutions, professional organizations, private and federally funded initiatives

• Integrate research-derived data into curricula











• Provide infrastructure and resources is essential for the engagement of teachers in multidisciplinary S&T education.

• Provide computational resources, audio-visual and Internet-digital infrastructure, seed grants, human resources etc.

• Institutional commitment could be a significant barrier or a considerable asset in developing an IT blended curriculum.











• In 2006-2007, the NSF received 44,000 grants, 11,000 of which were funded

• Extramural funding does enable instructors to buy out time for attending continuing education events, develop blended curricula, establish new collaborations, collect data and design research projects

• www.ED.gov• www.GrantsAlert.com• www.NSF.gov• www.spencer.org• www.kidsinneed.net











• Digital resource libraries catalogue, curate, evaluate & integrate many valuable IT resources

• See list of resource libraries at

SOCR.ucla.edu/htmls/SOCR_Recognitions.html

• These resources provide • Datasets• methodological & conceptual learning

materials, • tools for data analysis and exploration• hands-on activities, demonstrations, tutorials

and refreshers for all disciplines, topics and levels.






• Develop New & Diverse Multidisciplinary Educational Curricula

• Institutional Commitment to Multidisciplinary Education

• Introduce Efficient Multidisciplinary Resource Interfaces

• Expectations of Students Enrolled in Multidisciplinary Programs

• Assessment of Interdisciplinary Instructional Effectiveness

• Lack of available multidisciplinary educational materials due to scarcity of expertise to develop such instruments

• Collaborations and interactions between different areas caused by terminology, specifications of data and methodological protocols, a priori assumptions, etc.

• See National Internet-based Science Educational Resource: www.NSER.org

Dinov (2008) Integrated Multidisciplinary and Technology-Enhanced Science Education: The Next Frontier

, JOLT, 4(1), 2008, 84-93. http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no1/dinov0308.htm

Broad vs. Narrow Training




http://jolt.merlot.org/

http://jolt.merlot.org/pastissues.html









• Need Firm institutional commitment and support

• 2004 National Academy of Sciences report (Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research) identified barriers to interdisciplinary efforts:

• limited resources, • academic reward system, • differences in disciplinary cultures, • the pursuit of national rankings (based on

traditional disciplinary categorizations), • differences in policies and procedures across

departments, and • decentralized budgets favor departments over

interdisciplinary programs.














www.NSER.org








• Multidisciplinary research projects attract students’ attention rapidly and sustainably

• Learners exposed to well-designed and interactive hands-on multidisciplinary training acquire unique perspectives in understanding and dealing with complex problems

• Balancing the availability of sufficient area-specific high-level knowledge with abilities to look across many areas, draw resources and make inference about general multi-disciplinary challenges.














Broad vs. Narrow Training Assessment of Interdisciplinary Educational Efforts

Measures Type Analysis Methods Summary

Volume of Multidisciplinary Resources

quantitative

Time-series analysis, parametric inference

Overall measure of interest and motivation behind interdisciplinary educational endeavors

User Demographics

Mixed quantitative & qualitative

Qualitative data analysis

Geographic, socioeconomic, age and level of the consumers of multidisciplinary training

Translational / Transitional Scientific Discoveries

qualitative Domain analysis

Types of problems solved using techniques, data and tools developed by broad multidisciplinary teams

Multidisciplinary Publications

Mixed quantitative / qualitative

Quasi-Statistics & Domain analysis

Scientific perception of multidisciplinary activities by peers and the general public

Training Curricula Overhauls

quantitative

Regression, correlation & parametric inference

Grass root changes in formal and informal multidisciplinary training

Economic demand for interdisciplinary workers

quantitative

Time-series analysis, parametric inference

Economic impact & trend to increase the quantity & quality of workers with integrated and broad knowledge

The National Internet-based Science Educational Resource

(NISER)

The National Internet-based Science Educational Resource

(NISER)

NISER DemoNISER Demo Goal is to demonstrate

http://wiki.stat.ucla.edu/niser/index.php/NISER_FishMercuryActivity

• A real research pipeline

• Data collection, visualization, analysis & interpretation

• Portable web-based resources

• Hands-on example of interdisciplinary training

• Interactions between different science areas

Chlorophyll 3D

Alkalinity

N (μ=10.54,σ2 = 45.64)

AcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments

Funding

NSF DUE 0442992 & 0716055NIH U54 RR021813

CollaboratorsN Christou, J Sanchez, R Gould J Cui, A Che, A Toga

www.NSER.org

http://www.socr.ucla.edu/

integrated, multidisciplinary & technology-enhanced science education: the next frontier ivo d....

Documents

blended curriculum

multidisciplinary st

human resources

computational resources

higher education institutions

researchderived data

ongoing research projects

engagement of teachers