You may know what I am about from previous postings. If you do not, here
is a start:
William Barowy; Ph.D. experimental physics; associate professor, Technology
in Education, Lesley College; senior scientist, TERC.
My most recent research is in using computer modeling in learning science
in middle and high schools, the application of the Internet for teacher
professional development and to facilitate the adoption of computer
modeling tools. My present research interests are using design experiment
methodology, applying CHAT to design new activity systems for learning
science and technology. The two educational interventions around which I
am interested in designing experiments are scientific modeling and
technological design.
Briefly, both scientific modeling and technological design require students
to externalize their understanding. Both are iterative processes.
Scientific modeling is a way of constructing explanations of the world.
Technological design is a way of making and applying technology to human
advantage.
I'll define technology broadly here to include methods and techniques, as
well as tangible artifacts such as pencils. Thus the technology of such
things as 'magnetic resonance imaging' includes the mathematics of Fourier
transforms, the algorithms to make the computations, the device to obtain
the data, and the computers and displays. MRI is not something we are
attempting for schools, but simply serves as the first example that came to
mind.
Both technological design and scientific modeling are foreign to many
science classrooms. There is too little awareness by the public of either
practice. Thus, there are significant theoretical and practical issues in
the agency required to move these innovations into society, into schools in
particular. One needs to think about many dimensions that span types of
social interaction and scales of time. I find that CHAT provides a
descriptive and orientational framework for shaping interventions and so
also find my interest in xmca.
Thank you for having me. I hope that my postings will be as relevant and
useful to you as yours are to me.
Bill