| Project | One Sky, Many Voices |
| Contact | Perry Samson |
| samson@umich.edu | |
| URL | http://www.onesky.umich.edu/ |
| Project description | One Sky, Many Voices combines educational expertise with content and technical experience into the design and implementation of a program of four one or two month science units on basic weather, hurricanes, air quality, and water conservation. Learning from the comments of teachers in previous years the issues of technology needs and content support are being addressed through development of Internet-savvy CD-ROMs. We provide learners with tools for thoughtful inquiry learning which can capitalize on the sensational excitement of current information, and we guarentee availability even when either Internet connections are unreliable or nature does not cooperate with classroom or home learning timelines. |
| Theoretical background | My interest is the development of content-rich information delivery mechanisms. This includes the delivery of current weather images with embedded information (Blue-Skies, http://blueskies.sprl.umich.edu/ ) and Internet-savvy CD-ROM's, http://www.onesky.umich.edu/ which create predictive gamces for students based on current conditions. The research which has informed our decisions on design is derived from my collaborations with Nancy Songer. |
| Challenges | 1. How to scale all aspects of our program to larger populations. 2. How to provide personalized support to teachers. 3. How to provide personalized accountability measures to teachers. 4. How to design the dynamic database systems needed to support large numbers. 5. How to create programs at research universities which support/reward scientists choosing to engage themselves in science education research |
| Partnership | DPM, 40ish, in search of SCAF partner with Bi or VC
friends for possible LTR. Sense of humor a plus. May lead to (yet
another) proposal.
D=Dated; P=Programmer; M=Meteorologist; S=Scientific; C=Curriculum; A=Assessment; F=Faculty; Bi=Business interest; VC=VC; LTR=Learning Technologies Research |