The Goal of Learning
In staying aligned with current trends in educational technology this instructional design emerges from an understanding of inquiry approaches to learning. In addition, this instructional design uses the socioscientific issue (SSI) of Global Warming as a context in which to apply inquiry learning. Socioscientific issues like Global Warming provide a rich and a relatable context for teaching students about science content and the interrelatedness of science to society. Teaching practices that demonstrate connections between science and society illuminate sciences’ applicability to students and/or to the world. This, in turn, fosters student interest and deepens student understanding of the science concepts taught.
The SSI Global Warming was selected to provide the context of the instructional design for several reasons. First, humans have a complex and varied relationship with Global Warming, whether based on the ways in which humans play a role in the Global Warming effect or how we are impacted by its effects. Secondly, the nature in which humans contribute to Global Warming has similarities and differences across cultures around the world. Lastly, inquiry based educational technology fosters the construction of local and global learning communities from which students can learn about Global Warming.
Based on the aforementioned reasons for selecting the SSI Global Warming, this instructional design aims to teach students:
1. What is global warming (i.e., examination of various perspectives)?
2. What is our relationship (i.e., input to and consequential effects from) to global warming as individuals and as communities?
3. What are ways in which to alleviate the impact of Global Warming (i.e., design and implementation of action plan and the PSA)?
4. How does one evaluate the validity of information collected on Global Warming?
5. How can technology foster learning about Global Warming?
To meet these teaching aims this inquiry based instructional design learning goals will require student pairs to determine a unique investigation, gather and weigh evidence from various resources, develop and implement an action plan drawing on their evidence, and present their overall findings and experiences in the form of a public service announcement (PSA).
The Audiences
The learners are high school juniors and seniors from different countries. The assumption is that students have taken mandatory courses in the sciences. Another assumption is that learners have experienced a certain level of exposure to pop culture’s coverage of the basic issues surrounding global warming. Additionally, it is assumed that their vocabulary and language skills are enough to deal with scientific readings. Students will have enough technological skills to work a digital camera, import photos, and operate a blog or other relevant web 2.0 applications in order to publish the results of their findings.
With the development of the modern civilization, global warming is becoming a crucial issue for every country. Many Students today are taught to be responsible members of society and are trained to be concerned with their living environment. That said, it is assumed that many of the learners have yet to internalize these values in their beliefs and practices. It is presupposed that students already have the basic concept of environmental protection and have an interest in the subject of global warming (participation in this unit was voluntary). This instructional design is likely to attract students by throwing them into challenging hands-on activities (Haury & Rillero, 1994).
Because students will be from different areas around the world, their educational background and learning styles are likely to vary. For example, most schools in China have more than 60 students in each class. Students predominantly listen to lectures during their K-12 learning (Price, 2005). On the contrary, the class size in the western countries is much smaller and the students learn content in a more interactive way. Beyond different educational backgrounds and varying learning styles, student knowledge structures are very different as well. The subject of global warming requires knowledge in physics, chemistry and sociology. High schools from different countries have divergent content and achievement standards. For example, the physics and chemistry education is more theoretical in Asian schools (Price, 2005), while the students in the western countries tend to have more hands-on learning experiences (e.g., lab work). Thus, Asian students might find the field practice portion of the unit more challenging, while western students might struggle with the research portion.
The digital divide experienced in many under-resourced schools is also a problem. This is a web-based course, which has high equipment requirements. Students should have access to digital camera, computer and the Internet. However, because of socioeconomic status, disabilities, and physical location, the learning opportunities are not equally available to all students or teachers (equity book).
While the course content and activates are designed for students from different countries there is a pre-requisite that participating students speak English. This, of course, might present a challenge for non-English speakers. Afterall, a key component of this Global Warming Unit is the sharing of resources and findings.
Star. Legacy Model
The STAR.Legacy model uses a Flexibly Adaptive instructional design to allow for deep understanding of disciplines. It utilizes a problem-based model for teaching and learning that asks students to see subject matter from a variety of perspectives. Key to this model is the development of a “legacy” or artifact to share with the learning community upon completion of inquiry cycles.
The global warming unit requires students to process information from various sources in order to view the effects (i.e., social, political, economic, and environmental) of global warming within their own communities. The STAR.Legacy inquiry model (Schwartz et. al., 1999) combined both first-hand and second-hand learning opportunities with community based activities. In addition, the unit is supposed to have an international component where students could exchange information about global warming with others who might be experiencing or interpreting the effects in different ways. This exchange would occur through blogs using its “media affordances” (e.g., “write-ability”, “watch-ability”, and “listen-ability”), “temporal affordances” (e.g., “accessibility” and “asynchronicity”), and “navigational affordances” (e.g., “link-ability” and “search-ability”) (Bower, 2008).
Epistemologically, the designer believed in a constructivist approach to learning in which students are at the center of the classroom and their prior knowledge and skills are respected and cultivated. However, like the STAR.Legacy model, this constructivist practices do not preclude second-hand knowledge readings and lectures. Thus, in planning for the design, student understanding would also be gained from expert interviews, pre-selected websites and readings. Such components of the unit made sense in the “Research and Revise” phase of the STAR.Legacy model. The “go public” component of the STAR.Legacy model fit nicely into that vision by following up each challenge with a mandate to share results with others.