Doris Jorde & Wenche Erlien Viten.no - digital teaching programs in science education

Doris Jorde & Wenche Erlien

Viten.no - digital teaching

programs in science education


viten.no

• viten.no is a web-based platform with digital teaching programs in science

• Target group is secondary school (age group 14-18)

• The Viten teaching programs are available for free

• FlashPlayer is the only software needed to use the programs

• The Viten-project is a Norwegian research and development project. It is a collaboration between the Norwegian Centre for Science Education and University of Oslo


The Viten teaching programs

The programs cover a variety of science topics. Each program ranges in duration from 2-8 lessons.

Three types of programs are available, engaging students in: 1. designing solutions to problems, e.g. design a

greenhouse for growing plants in a spaceship on its way to Mars

2. debating controversial issues, e.g. whether or not there should be wolves in the Norwegian wilderness

3. investigating scientific phenomena, e.g. northern lights, gene technology


Year (Launched) Program Student users by

June 2008

2002 Radioactivity Wolves in Norway Cycles of malaria Plants in space

59 36917 768

8 546 24 356

2003 Earth processes Bears Hydrogen as energy source

31 0009 244

22 056

2004 Gene technologyCloning of plantsHealth up in smoke

90 18211 35718 875

2005 Global warmingDinosaurs and fossils

20 6898 557

2006 Northern lights 17 981

Total 287 063

Overview of the available Viten programs and corresponding number of registered student users


Content of a program

All Viten programs are designed as learning environments providing scientific information and

a wide variety of activities.

The scientific information may be presented in different ways:• Text• Images• Video clips• Animations• Links to other web-pages



Save

Students are able to write their answers directly into the program.

Answers are saved on the Viten-platform, where teachers are able to make comments on student work at their leisure.



Examples of different interactive tasks:

• Drag and drop• Drop down menu• Crossword• Quiz• Simulation


Development of Viten program

The developers of Viten programs are ICT technicians, science

educators and teachers. In the developing process there is

close cooperation between experts from the academic discipline together with the design team.

Design principles

• Apply science knowledge in actual situations and in different ways

• Help students learn from others• Promote autonomy and lifelong learning


Apply science knowledge in actual situations

The Viten design model stresses the fact that students not only

need scientific information when learning science, they also

need to be able to apply that knowledge in actual situations

and in different ways.

The model also emphasises the need to integrate scientific

topics into other domains such as economics, history, geography and sociology, which may influence how

society deals with scientific information in a broader context.


Help students learn from others

Students are encouraged to work in

pairs in front of the computer.

The Viten philosophy is that students must formulate and explain their own ideas to each other, and through discussion work out a common answer to tasks. ”Talking science”


Promote autonomy and lifelong learning

The Viten philosophy is that students must enable the development of lifelong learning skills such as critiquing evidence, debating arguments, or designing solutions to personally relevant problems.


Research

Once programs are constructed, implementation studies are conducted in science classrooms where members of the Viten

team participate as classroom researchers.

Data collection:• Pretest/posttest• Classroom observations/video• Student/teacher interviews• Student logs


New Viten platform

http://ny.viten.no


Three programs in English

Northern lightshttp://northernlights.viten.no

Global warminghttp://globalwarming.viten.no

Gene technologyhttp://genetechnology.viten.no

Documents

Doris Jorde & Wenche Erlien Viten.no - digital teaching programs in science education