Using WebQuests & STELLA with Pre-Service Teachers

Richard Langheim, Ed.D.Associate Professor of Education

Ramapo College of New Jersey

Purpose

Engage in a conversation with educators about developing effective techniques for learning and using systems thinking and dynamic modeling

Outline

Review some literature which supports aspects of the effort

Draw some conclusions & reactions

Explain one effort at Ramapo College of New Jersey [RCNJ] to foster systems thinking

RCNJ Audience

Pre-service teacher education [TE]students

No background in modeling

Varied background in math

Varied background in using technology

No background in using technology to enhance learning & teaching

RCNJ Audience

Undergraduates or Post-Baccalaureates

No certified teachers

Elementary & Secondary candidates

Wide variety of disciplinary majors

No unsupervised classroom teaching

Pre-service TE Students - Kay

Evaluating Strategies Used to Incorporate Technology into Pre-service Education: a Review of the Literature

Robin Kay

Journal of Research on Technology in Education - Vol. 38 No.4

Pre-service TE Students - Kay

Review of 68 referred journal articles

“…only a handful of studies have carefully and rigorously pursued the evaluation process.”

Pre-service TE Students - Kay

“Given the potential problems, it should come as no surprise that pre-service teachers are perceived as unprepared to use technology.”

Pre-service TE Students - Kay

Kay Model

Multiple Strategies - integration with content, workshops, single course, multimedia

Authentic tasks & modeling the use of technology by faculty and teacher-mentors

Attitude & ability

Pre-service TE Students - Kay

A rigorous research-based framework for developing the effective use of technology does not yet exist.

Bathtub Dynamics - Booth Sweeney & Sterman

o Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory

o Linda Booth Sweeney, John D. Sterman

o System Dynamics Review - Vol. 16 No. 4

Bathtub Dynamics - Booth Sweeney & Sterman

Surprisingly low level of performance by numerous groups of students

Systems thinking is not intuitive nor easily developed

Modeling - Penner

Cognition, Computers, and Synthetic Science: Building Knowledge and meaning Through Modeling

David Penner

Review of Research in Education, 2000-2001

Modeling - Penner

Carey - weak conceptual change or weak restructuring

Enrichment process - develops new relationships between concepts for problem solving

Modeling - Penner

Carey - strong conceptual change or strong restructuring

“… holds that people’s intuitive conceptions of the natural world are often at odds with current scientific understanding of phenomenon.”

“… a key goal in science education should be to help students restructure or replace their conceptions of the world.”

Modeling - Penner

“In order to use STELLA, students must conceptualize a phenomenon in terms of four types of icons available, regardless of their current understanding and ways of thinking of the phenomenon under investigation.”

Advocates use of ‘programmable media’ to model phenomenon

Instructional Practice - Rakes

The Influence of Teachers’ Technology Use on Instructional Practices

Glenda Rakes, Valerie S. Fields & Karee E. Cox

Journal of Research on Technology in Education Vol. 38 No.4

Instructional Practice - Rakes

Study of the relationship between the level of technology implementation [LoTi] and personal computer use by teachers [PCU] on (constructivist) current instructional practices of teachers [CIP]

Instructional Practice - Rakes

186 total 4th and 8th grade teachers with 123 voluntary participants

11 school districts

Rural, southern schools with 20% or more below the poverty line

Instructional Practice - Rakes

“…teachers who scored higher on the LoTi and the PCU have higher levels on the CPI.”

Confirms Moersch 1999 study - “…appropriate use of technology can reinforce higher cognitive skill development and complex thinking skills as promoted through the use of constructivist teaching practices.”

Technology Integration - Wright

From Preservice to Inservice Teaching: A Study of Technology integration

Vivian H. Wright & Elizabeth K. Wilson

Journal of Computing in Teacher Education vol. 22 No. 2

Technology Integration - Wright

Preservice social studies teachers

Methods block - pre & post survey of perceptions of technology [22]

Student teaching - survey [11] & interview and observations [3]

First year teaching - interview one in teaching position and two in graduate school

Technology Integration - Wright

“Overall, participants were more likely to emulate what ‘they were taught’ than to apply individually their own creative technology integration plans.”

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

Using Technology Wisely: The Keys to Success in Schools

Harold Wenglinsky

2005

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

Focuses upon student achievement - NAEP results from 1996, 1998 and 2000

4th, 8th and 12th graders

Technology use across disciplines

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

“The effective use of educational technology is enmeshed in the kind of pedagogy employed.”

“Constructivist uses of technology help students learn better than they would otherwise,..”

“…whereas didactic uses of technology make the technology useless or even damaging.”

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

“The date indicate that, of the nontechnological instructional practices of teachers, it is primarily the constructivist ones that are associated with high student performance.”

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

“In math and science, computer use is positively associated with student performance when computers are used in a constructivist fashion, and is either unassociated or negatively associated with student performance when computers are used in a didactic fashion.”

Technology in Schools - Wenglinsky

“In reading, inferences are somewhat more difficult to make but suggest that when students use computers for word processing for meta-analytic purposes, student perform better, and when they are used for spellchecking or reading stories, students perform worse.”

The Challenge

Introduce students to systems thinking & dynamic modeling

Develop student use of technology as a tool to enhance learning through webquests

Foster a constructivist approach to teaching and technology

A Proposal - WebQuests & ST

Preservice teacher education students

Build instructional WebQuests

Involve using & building models

Explain phenomenon, model(s) and instructional foundation of webquest to peers, faculty and teachers

WebQuests - Dodge

Introduction

Tasks

Process

Evaluation

Conclusion

Teacher Resources

WebQuests - Dodge

“The task focuses learners on what they are going to do - specifically, the culminating performance or product that drives all of the learning activities.”

WebQuests - Dodge

Process “outlines how the learners will accomplish the task. Scaffolding includes clear steps, resources, and tools for organizing information.”

WebQuests - Dodge

Evaluation “describes the … criteria needed to meet performance and content standards.”

Examples

Student samples from Systems Thinking at RCNJ

An Example

Meadowlands WebQuest

Sequential structured series of model using and building activities embedded in a webquest about the New Jersey Meadowlands

Evaluation of teachers during staff development and student achievement after classroom use

• Thank you

Using WebQuests & STELLA with Pre-Service Teachers

Richard Langheim, Ed.D.Associate Professor of Education

Ramapo College of New Jersey

References

Dodge, B. Building Blocks of a WebQuest. Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/buildingblocks/p-index.htm

Goodman, M. (2005). Systems thinking as a language. Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://www.thesystemsthinker.com/tstlang.html.

References

Heinbokel, J., & Potash, J. (2006). Curricular Innovation Accessed on 5 June 2006, http://www.ciesd.org/influence/curricula.shtml.

Kay, R., (2006). Evaluating strategies used to incorporate technology into pre-service education: a review of the literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 383-402.

References

Lou, Y., Abrami, P.C., & d’Apollonia, S. (2001). Small group and individual learning with technology: a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 449-521.

Mason, C., Berson, M., Diem, R., Hicks, D., Lee, J., & Dralle, T. (2000). Guidelines for using technology to prepare social studies teachers. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education [Electronic Version], 1(1).

References

Penner, D.E. (2000-2001). Cognition, computers, and synthetic science: building knowledge and meaning through modeling. Review of Research in Education, 25, 1-37.

Rakes, G.C., Fields, V.S., & Cox, K.E., (2006). The influence of teachers’ technology use on instructional practice. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 409-424.

References

Richmond, B., (2001). An Introduction to Systems Thinking. Hanover, NH: High Performance Systems.

Rakes, G.C., Fields, V.S., & Cox, K.E., (2006). The influence of teachers’ technology use on instructional practice. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 409-424.

References

Booth Sweeney, L. & Sterman, J.D. (2000). Bathtub dynamics: initial results of a systems thinking inventory. System Dynamics Review, 16(4), 249-286.

Wright, V.H. & Wilson, E.K. (2005-2006). From pre-service to inservice teaching: A study of technology integration. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, 22(2), 49-55.

Wenglinsky, H. (2005). Using technology wisely: The Keys to Success in Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.