June 2000 — Features
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Creating Internet-Based Curriculum Projects
Like many new students showing up for the first day of classes, teachers arriving for the first of a yearlong series of Internet workshops at Stevens Institute of Technology are not really sure what is in store for them. They have been selected by their school administrators to learn how to integrate Internet activities into science and mathematics education, but some of them come with few computer skills, let alone Internet experience. Many question whether they will be able to keep up with the class. Most express disbelief when shown Internet-based science and mathematics projects that former workshop participants have produced. "Surely, that won't be expected of me," they murmur. Yet, in the end, most of the teachers will accomplish the very thing they thought impossible.
CIESE Focus
Since its inception in 1988, the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) at Stevens has promoted the use of technology as a means to facilitate student learning and has conducted numerous workshops for teachers to help them learn how to integrate different types of technology into their curricula. In recent years, CIESE has focused on the use of real-time data available from the Internet for use in the classroom. This may include weather data to help students monitor and predict weather patterns, earthquake data from the USGS enabling students to "discover" the relationship between earthquakes and plate tectonic boundaries, or real experimental data such as the boiling point of water recorded by many classes around the world. These are good examples of how the use of technology, specifically the Internet, can help to make learning real and exciting for students.
Over the years, CIESE's teacher professional development programs have taken many forms, but the model that has produced some of the best success stories is one in which teachers develop their own Internet-based science and mathematics projects to use in their classrooms. This model for using technology in the classroom encompasses 120+ hours of interaction with CIESE staff members. It is a time-intensive undertaking for teachers, but the model has proven to be successful for a number of reasons:
- It promotes the integration of the Internet into traditional science and mathematics curricula in unique and compelling ways.
- It provides a creative and stimulating experience for teachers trying to assimilate many new ideas and skills in the context of a project relevant to their own classroom.
- It provides an ongoing support mechanism to help teachers develop and implement their projects.
- It builds teacher confidence to a level that enables them to become mentors or to provide staff development to others in their school or district.
School Year Workshops
During the school year, teachers, working in teams of two to four per school, are released from their classes approximately once per month to attend full-day hands-on computer workshops at Stevens. We have found that regularly scheduled workshops expose teachers to compelling Internet activities while building their skill and confidence levels for using the Internet in their classes. Sessions start with a basic Internet skills development workshop, but then quickly delve into subject-specific workshops such as earth science, environmentalscience, physical science, life science, and mathematics.
