June 1996 — Features
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Universal Access to Science Study via Internet
The Internet is transforming science study by removing the need for students to be at the same place as their laboratories, their mentors or their collaborators. Data can be acquired from remote sites, teachers can advise from anywhere, and peers can communicate with each other from multiple locations around the world. New opportunities for decentralized study go beyond telecommuting, which implies merely reaching one location from another. Internet technology not only provides new links between home-based and school-based activities but, it redefines what we mean by a "school."
Changes in education today parallel what has been going on for some time among scientists. For many years, researchers at multiple sites have been able to share data over the Internet and collaborate as they analyze, review and discuss observations. Today, students are adopting this type of exploration and learning. For example, images from space, land-based telescopes or powerful microscopes at university and industrial laboratories can be studied by students at home or in school.
Since early in 1995, at Stevens Institute of Technology, we have been promoting the use of the Internet in science education. Our emphasis is on utilizing it in ways that are unique and compelling. We concentrate on materials for science study that cannot be delivered via software or CD-ROM because of their real-time or collaborative nature.
These are rapidly changing times with limited resources for curriculum development and teacher training. Attention is best given to interesting, intellectually significant educational opportunities that are not likely to reach learners through any mechanism other than the Internet. Only then can educators justify expenditures of time and money for this new technology.
Our activities are funded by the National Science Foundation in a program known as the New Jersey Networking Infrastructure in Education (NJNIE) project. This is a national demonstration project to promote improved science education in 500 K-12 schools in New Jersey through applications of the Internet.
The activities are pursued in collaboration with and in support of another NSF program, the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative (NJSSI), which is advancing science education reform throughout the state. In addition to working with NJSSI schools, the Internet project provides planning advice and curriculum training for schools from the state's 30 most disadvantaged school districts.
We focus our Internet activities on analysis of data. In particular, we emphasize quantitative data that is emerging from fresh sources. We seek to increase mathematical skills of students as they encounter the beauty and regularity of science. Fundamental to an appreciation of science is the mathematically precise order, regularity and predictability that is manifest in natural phenomena.
