I'm a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Education.
For the past two years (with plans of continued involvement throughout
this year), I've been a part of a multidisciplinary group of faculty and
students in education and computer science, working closely with high
school teachers and students to design and implement Foundations of
Science (FOS). FOS is a three-year, project-based, technology-enhanced,
integrated science curriculum (earth science+biology+chemistry). Our
group has outfitted the high school with lots of computational media
tools: one PowerBook for every two students, a school-wide Ethernet, ISDN
lines for access to and from the Internet, printers, servers, multimedia
production Macs, Newtons. We've also developed a suite of software tools
to enable students to conduct the full range scientific inquiry
activities (from data collection to modeling to publishing).
The goal of my dissertation research during this endeavor is to
characterize and understand the culture that has formed in the FOS
classrooms around the use of computational media and to use this
understanding to inform the design of computer-based tools for learning
and doing science. This ethnographic work does not focus on the
properties or effects of technology. Rather, my goal is to understand
technology use as a process of ongoing manifestations of social relations
in a project-based learning environment. I consider the FOS program to be
a developing culture based around new approaches to learning, using, and
constructing scientific knowledge, using technology, and schooling in
general. I'm conducting my ethnography at CHS with the hope that I can
determine the aspects of this culture that define and support learning
through the routine use of computational tools. I've spent many many
hours in the school, participating in the students' project work,
interviewing and videotaping students and teachers, and designing
curricula, software, and technological solutions.
I'm looking forward to being a part of the interesting discussions on xmca!
-- Jeff
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Jeff Spitulnik | voice: 313/763-1043
Highly Interactive Computing Research Group | 313/763-6988
Advanced Technology Lab | fax: 313/763-1260
University of Michigan | e-mail: spit@umich.edu
1101 Beal Avenue |
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 - 2110 |
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Hi-C Group: http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/highc/
Community High School: http://chs-web.umdl.umich.edu/
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