Meridian: Summer 2000: Electronic Networks

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ELECTRONIC NETWORKS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

A Literature Review

Rita Hagevik
North Carolina State University

ABSTRACT

Electronic networks in science are emerging as a new way to create highly interactive environments in which information can flow in many ways. In addition it has been found that teachers and students develop new instructional strategies and classroom organization when participating in telecommunication projects. A wide variety of telecommunication projects are explained including tele-apprenticeships, problem solving, and scientific investigations. Research is reviewed and indications are that electronic networks are one way to enhance science learning and teach students how to effectively communicate in a technology-based society.

"Electronic networks are emerging as a possible way to create highly interactive environments in which information can flow in many directions. "

Technology and its role in education are emerging as an important topic for the next century. The National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996) state that the major goal of science education is to produce students that are scientifically literate and technologically informed. Many literary scholars are predicting a paradigm shift as students become linked to the world beyond the classroom (Dillan & Gabbard, 1998). However, there remains a tremendous need for a richer understanding of the learning process and how it relates to technology education. The use of technology as a means of information creation and the potential for learning with technology and not just from it need to be considered (Dillan & Gabbard, 1998).

AT&T Learning Network
(http://www.att.com/
learningnetwork/)

Electronic networks are emerging as a possible way to create highly interactive environments in which information can flow in many directions. These networks create “microworlds” of highly motivational learning contexts for teachers and students. Students and teachers are motivated to collaborate on projects in different locations and share their results with a wider audience (Levin & Thurston, 1996). Students become motivated and excited when they receive immediate feedback about their work. For example, students can collaborate on projects such as the AT&T learning network (Riel, 1990) in which teachers joined students and others to search for information and explore a variety of topics. These classes developed new instructional strategies and classroom organization in order to be able to effectively telecommunicate with each other. Teachers and students worked in teams to solve real problems, share cultural perspectives and learn from one another. They collected data, conducted interviews and surveys, and analyzed the data to draw conclusions that are significant to the adult world (Riel, 1990). The AT&T Learning Network involved university researchers, students, teachers, and pre-service teachers who communicated electronically and collaborated on a variety of subjects such as a study of career choices and how they changed across generations, comparisons of news coverage of world events, a study of how the water cycle operates in different places and techniques for dealing with water shortages, comparisons of food prices and import/export policies, and comparisons of TV watching patterns (p. 165). Schools worked closely with site coordinators to organize the schedules of the projects. This concept has also been applied to the Long Distance Learning Network (LDLN) and has connected hundreds of teachers from the US, Canada, Holland, France, Germany and Australia into networking units of 6-10 classrooms with specific goals and curriculum-based tasks to be complete. The design and development of the LDLN and the AT&T Network show that successful telecommunication networks can provide a type of communication tool that offers a way to help reduce the isolation of teachers and students in classrooms (Riel, 1990). Telecommunication networks often can be effective in breaking down boundaries between academic subjects and students can become critics of each other’s work (Brienne & Goldman, 1989). Electronic networks, therefore, break down barriers and the remoteness that exists in schools and encourage teamwork and collaborative inquiry (Levin and Thurston, 1996).

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Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal
a service of NC State University, Raleigh, NC
Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2000
ISSN 1097—9778
URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/sum2000/elecnet/index.html
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