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Session 27 - History and Teaching of Astronomy.
Oral session, Monday, June 10
Old Madison,
We describe a partnership approach in use at UC Berkeley's Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA) that facilitates the adaptation of astrophysics data and information---in particular from NASA's EUVE satellite---for use in the K--12 classroom. Our model is founded on a broad collaboration of personnel from research institutions, centers of informal science teaching, schools of education, and K--12 schools. Several CEA-led projects follow this model of collaboration and have yielded multimedia, Internet-based, lesson plans for grades 6 through 12 that are created and distributed on the World Wide Web (http://www.cea.berkeley.edu/Education). Use of technology in the classroom can foster an environment that more closely reflects the processes scientists use in doing research (Linn, diSessa, Pea, amp; Songer 1994, J.Sci.Ed.Tech., ``Can Research on Science Learning and Instruction Inform Standards for Science Education?"). For instance, scientists rely on technological tools to model, analyze, and ultimately store data. Linn et al.\ suggest introducing technological tools to students from the earliest years to facilitate scientific modeling, scientific collaborations, and electronic communications in the classroom. Our investigation aims to construct and evaluate a methodology for effective participation of scientists in K--12 education, thus facilitating fruitful interactions with teachers and other educators and increasing effective use of technology in the classroom. We describe several team-based strategies emerging from these project collaborations. These strategies are particular to the use of the Internet and World Wide Web as relatively new media for authoring K--12 curriculum materials. This research has been funded by NASA contract NAS5-29298, NASA grant ED-90033.01-94A to SSL/UCB, and NASA grants NAG5-2875 and NAGW-4174 to CEA/UCB.
