Discussion of morning speaker presentation: Dr. Jorge Sarmiento:
Atmospheric CO2
Data presented very conducive to understanding of concepts
GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science) from Lawrence Hall of
Science, supplemental materials (graphs, charts, data)
Interpretation of graphs provided meaning, context and connections
Appreciated multiple sources of data
Needed to bring in other components for the "big picture"
Would like handouts and references
Would like references and resources for local and regional data to use
with students.
Translation problem (how to use with lower grades)
Alternative solutions (scenarios) to data (interpretation)
Design method for students to retrieve and chart actual current data.
Alternative solutions to problems suggested by interpretation of data
(e.g. solar/wind power)
Warm Feedback:
Graphs were excellent
Future predictions interesting
Presentation was in understandable form
Explanations for variations in data aided understanding
Enthusiastic attitude, obviously enjoys discussing his work
Sources and Sinks models very good
Left room for uncertainty
Relaxed style of presentation, complimentary of those asking questions
Cool Feedback:
Grade levels, elementary vs high school, 85% not applicable for lower
grades
Could have used handouts, rather than waiting for posting on web
Presentation too long, room too big, not conducive for asking questions
and audience participation
Loss of focus due to delayed starting time and poor pre-presentation
organization
Graphs needed titles and more textual information
Focus was too narrow
Too many graphs, some with too many elements
Institute Web Product Design:
1. What might it look like and how might it be used?
Needs to be "user-friendly"
Ease of navigation
Account for access by those with minimal or no technology (those who
only have access from a single computer at school or in a library)
Include (positive) experiences from ESIs
Must be able to access activities/lesson plans quickly and efficiently
Structured by grade level
Cross indexed, links to integrated/complimentary themes, extensions and
cross-curricular activities.
Collaborative project-based research between ESI teachers' classrooms
(student research/comparisons)
Ability to update and revise activities/lesson plans etc.
Avoid a sea of links (links>links>more links)
2. What would be essential to see and/or do on the web product?
Clarity, clearly stated goals and objectives
Clean format
Simple, not too complex, right to the point
Readable fonts, short bulleted lists for categories/headings
Interdisciplinary links
Lesson plans, indexed for SPEED, detailed preparation in bold
Pleasing appearance
List of materials needed for activities and experiments
Links to sites where materials for activities can be found (sources,
references)
List of "household" items needed for series of thematic
units/investigations over course of weeks/months
Alerts or "red flags" on units that require hard to find items
Feedback forms (hotlinks) for activities/lesson plans
Account for needs of LEP (ESL) teachers/students
3. How can the web product be interactive?
Omit interactives for these pages, provide links to other sites for
interactive activities
4. How might we communicate information about our group projects on the
web.
We see this bascially as a job for the webmaster. ESI participants can
include links to the products on their educational sites back home and
distribute the URLs at teacher workhshops, inservices and institutes.
Obvious locations for links would include educational organizations,
colleges and universities.
5. What would be contained on the web site? (resources, activities,
content, mentoring projects)
This will be determined at the individual institutes. As previously
stated, primarily activities and lesson plans, selected links to high
quality resources and data sources, possibly email connections to
scientists and technicians, opportunities for professional development,
grants and sources of funding/materials
6. What educational WWW sites have you seen that might serve as
prototypes?
ENC (Eisenhower National Clearinghouse) - esp. Digital Dozen
The Franklin Institute
ENN (Environmental News Network)
NanoWorld
IDEAS (Internet Data Exploration ActivitieS)
IPPEX (Plasma Physics Laboratory)
LEO-15
NOAA (Office of Global Programs www.ogp.noaa.gov/)
NASA, esp. ARC (Ames Research Center) Education Outreach, Moffett Field,
CA
The GLOBE Program (www.globe.gov)
MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) - Virtual Canyon
Project
Moss Landing Marine Labs (San Jose State Univ.)
Earth System Science-Education Resources (Penn State)
(www.ems.psu.edu/RelatedWebSites.html)
Circles hotlist: www.circles.org/Round3/Data/HChotlst1-1.html
Ocean Planed Educational Materials
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov:80/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/search_educational_materials.html
New Education Research Digests (incl. environmental ed. resources)
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/
Standards: Making them Useful & workable for the Education Enterprise
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Standards/
Tiempo - climate Change CyberLibrary
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/tiempo/newswatch/index.htm
A Systems Approach to El Nino (www.dir.ucar.edu/esig/enso/)