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Learning Science through Collaborative
Visualization over the Internet
Roy Pea
Stanford University
Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning
Nobel Symposium: Virtual Museums 2002
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Collaborative
Visualization
– Development of scientific knowledge…
– Mediated by using scientific
visualization and CSCW tools…
– In a collaborative context…
– Supported by constructivist pedagogy.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
What was the CoVis Project?
– A wideband network that formed a distributed learning environment
for reform-oriented science education by developing a culture of
science practice, including:
– Integrated suite of tools for network-based project-enhanced
science learning
• Internet direct to 5-6 desktops per classroom, and all students
with individual accounts
• Scientific visualization and inquiry tools--focus on earth and
atmospheric sciences
• Collaborative media spaces: Collaboratory Notebook,
communication, and video-conferencing with screen sharing
• Project-oriented pedagogy and services
• Learning activities/web services for interschool collaborations
– Continuing professional development for teachers, with a focus on
project-oriented pedagogy
– Mentor database services for involving scientists
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
But this was 1992 and there were
no web browsers!
When the grant proposal was
written in 1991, Internet-based
videoconferencing was only
possible with a $40,000 hardware
codec.
Scientific visualization was not
seen in the K-12 classroom.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Learning through Collaborative Visualization
The vision was to establish a prototype
of a future distributed multimedia
learning environment for science that
would integrate distributed expertise
including educators, learning
researchers, scientists at universities,
and a science education museum.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
CoVis Guiding Principles
– Learn science by doing science
– Invite and nurture open-ended questions
– Foster refinements of questions in reflective
discussions
– Secure respect and value for the diversity of learners’
questions
– Provide multiple representations as diverse and
flexible means for asking and answering questions
– Teach inquiry by modeling inquiry
– Support progress in learning by seeding it with the
use of powerful ideas
– Reflect these principles in the assessment of student
activities
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Use scenario: Global warming studies
– First, staging activities guide learning about greenhouse effect,
greenhouse gases, and variation in seasonal climate patterns using
learner-centered scientific visualization tools and the same NASA
and NOAA datasets used by the scientific community.
– Then, student teams collaborate across schools over the Internet
on projects following questions of their interest.
– The 8-week cycle ends when they present findings at a global
summit where diverse national or ideological perspectives are
represented.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Distributed Learning Communities
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Where did we start?
With a vision and some partners...
Perspective on technologies for learning
– Historically, new representational systems provide
cognitive power and have social consequences (e.g.,
writing, algebra, graphing, computer models)
– “Distributed intelligence” supports activity in human-
technology systems.
• “Cognitive” technologies: to see, design, build, what’s more
difficult, error-prone, impossible without them.
• “Social” technologies: Enable collective activity such as
collaborations, cooperations, more difficult without them.
– Technologies often change the problems that it is
possible to pose, not only to solve
– Leads to re-structuring of what it means to know and
understand in a discipline (and hence learning)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Perspective on science education
reform
– View of science in terms of “communities of practice,”
sharing values and norms, language, tools, practices
– “Constructivist” conception of science learning as
building on a learner’s prior belief systems
– Promoting science learning as “guided inquiry” in
practices akin to scientific ones, using similar tools
– That science is a social practice is compatible with
science being nonetheless about a material world
Internet
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Changing the processes of learning
– Beyond traditional distance learning (talking
heads)
– Goal was to create highly-interactive learning
environments that reproduce or exceed face-to-
face
– Distributed learning communities
• Shared media spaces for collaborative learning
• Interschool projects mediated by groupware, web-
based resources and scientific visualization
– Telementoring and teleapprenticeships
– Virtual fieldtrips to museums and research labs
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Components of the CoVis Testbed in 1992-
93
– Hybrid high-speed public-access network for data
services and desktop videoconferencing
– Scientific visualization tools (Climate Visualizer,
Weather Visualizer)
– Collaboration support (Collaboratory Notebook)
– Integrated email, FTP, Gopher
– 1993 summer teacher workshop (Internet, project
science, visualization, collaboration tools)
– Few learning activities (teachers suggested that
they would build them around resources and tools)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
1992-94...CoVis Community
“Proof of concept”
Scientists
U. of Illinois
Schools
Evanston Twp. High School
Northwestern
The
ISDN Internet
New Trier High School
Museum
Exploratorium
Benefits of Scientific Visualization
– Scientific visualization: an image rendered through high-
speed computer graphics that is based on a numerical
data set that describes some quantity in the world (e.g.,
global temperatures).
– Uses visual reasoning to understand science
– Provides “big picture” view of complex systems
– Can connect students to scientific communities by
allowing access to existing and used data sets
– Acts as “conversational props” for learning discussions
– Provides resources for inquiries in student projects
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Scientists’ Visualization Tools
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
From Scientists’ Workbench to Learner-Centered
Scientific Visualization Applications (1993)
Climate Visualizer
NMC Archival data providing
twenty-five years of twice
daily measurements of
temperature, winds, and
pressure at several levels of
the atmosphere. Coverage
over most of the Northern
Hemisphere.
Weather Visualizer
Real time hourly data
providing custom weather
maps including temperature,
dew point, fronts, severe
weather warnings and
weather station reports.
Coverage over contiguous
United States and Canada.
CoVis Collaboratory Notebook (1993)
– ...was a shared, networked hypermedia database
– ...was a place where students, teachers, and scientist
mentors...
• Record thoughts, plans, and actions
• Respond to the work of others
• Are scaffolded in steps of project inquiry and collaboration
– ...in the course of open-ended scientific inquiry
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
What did we
learn from
practice?
First year “testbed woes” (1993)
– Learners’ inquiry questions often went beyond
available visualization datasets
– Learners and teachers needed more support, and
scheduled events to motivate scientific visualizer use
in projects
– Few cross-school project teams emerged
– Lack of fit of videoconferencing to common education
tasks, despite early teacher excitement
– Needed regular access to “Collaboratory Notebook” to
warrant integral use in projects
– Transitioning to project pedagogy presented many
challenges to teachers and learners
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Redesign Tools and Activities (‘93-94)
– Added more learner support in tool and activity
“wraparounds” for scientific visualizers
– Piloted scheduled on-line events to encourage
cross-school projects and pedagogy (CIAs)
– Planning for a Greenhouse Effect Visualizer as new
domain for inquiry projects
– Set-up out-of-classroom computers to increase
Internet access for collaboration and communication
– To motivate adoption, we tried desktop video for
remote classroom support of teachers
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Observations and CoVis Redesign (‘94-
95)
– Assessment: Teachers sought project assessment
rubrics, and established clearer expectations for
students on work process and products
– Mentors: More ready access to mentors to help scope
student projects, and identify data for investigating
students’ questions (explored a mentor database)
– Models: More curriculum activities and datasets around
which students’ questions could be developed (explore
web-based resources and activities)
– Domains: New Greenhouse Effect Visualizer into use
• Archival global data of monthly means for a year providing
surface temperature, incoming sunlight, albedo (reflectivity),
energy absorbed and emitted by the earth, and measurement of
greenhouse effect
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
New Challenges for Summer 1995
– National Science Foundation asks for national scale-up
of CoVis from AAT (‘92-94) to NIE (‘95-97) program
– What scaling issues are involved in making CoVis
innovations broadly available to many more and far
more diverse schools?
– What do we find to be needed in software, network,
activity design and teacher support?
– OR: How does the system of distributed intelligence in
support of science learning need to be redesigned to fit
these new challenges?
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Scaleup Changes in CoVis
Classrooms (From 1992-94 to 1995-
1997)
– 2 high schools using 12 computers --> 42 middle and high
schools 1000+ computers (56KB to T-1 level Internet
connections)
– Size and diversity of learner community: 270-->5000
students, 80% white --> 47% white, 34% African
American, 14% Latino, 5% Asian
– Broader geographic and economic diversity:
• Many low-income urban schools, e.g., 11 in Chicago;
Jersey City; Patterson
• Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South
– Teacher community: from 6 to 100+ teachers, plus 40 tech
coordinators, 100’s of scientist telementors
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Challenges in scaling CoVis (1995-97)
– Experimental, hand-supported reforms —>
institutionalized, sustainable ones with local ownership
– Demonstration activities using new tools —> repeatable,
curriculum-based activity structures
– Local, informal face-to-face development activities for 6
teachers —> formal workshops, print materials, on-line
support of 100 teachers in 13 states working with over
5000 students
– CoVis staff technical support for 2 local high schools —>
training and remote support of on-site tech personnel for
42 middle and high schools
– Proprietary software —> web-based open system
standards
– Informal use of mentors —> on-line mentor database
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
What did we re-design in response
to these challenges?
– GeoSciences Web server for guiding new
classrooms into the CoVis community
– Workshops for teachers and school tech support
staff (summer, on-line, targetted face to face)
– Web-based software distribution and ongoing
teacher support system
– Scaled project collaboration support:
• Collaboratory Notebook for thousands of users
• CU-See Me desktop videoconferencing
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
– Design team partners from Northwestern, U.Col., U.Mich., UIUC,
U.Chicago, UniData, NCAR (late 1994-early 1995)
– Professional development resources on learning perspectives,
doing projects, mentoring, visualization, collaboration
– CoVis Activities and Projects -- to provide a range of scheduled
learning activities from which students can evolve projects, and
teachers develop and share new designs
– CoVis Resources -- visualization tools and data, Virtual Field Trips,
Interactive Weather Briefings
– CoVis Teacher Lounge -- information and materials teachers need
to conduct project-based science and participate in CoVis, including
links to tools, activities, assessment rubrics, mentors, and listservs
– CoVis Student Lounge -- information and materials students need to
do project-based science and participate in CoVis
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
CoVis Interschool Activities (CIAs)
– Scheduled project cycles running 2-5 weeks, with
interschool matchmaking brokered by CoVis staff
– CIAs provide opportunities for network
collaboration, mentoring, Exploratorium Topic-
Based Virtual Field Trips.
• Land Use Management Planning (2 weeks)
• Soil Science (3 weeks)
• Weather Prediction, inc. UIUC Interactive
Weather Briefings (4 weeks), web-based
Weather Visualizer
• Global Warming (5 weeks)
– Teachers evaluated each CIA after use, and we
improved resources and activity support for each
next iteration.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
CoVis-UIUC Weather Visualizer
http://storm.atmos.uiuc.edu/covis2/visualiz
er/
~75,000
Hits
Per Day
(in 1997)
UIUC/CoVis Online Guide to Meteorology
http://covis1.atmos.uiuc.edu/guide/guide.ht
ml
~70,000
Hits Per Day
to Just-in-time
Learning
Modules
(in 1997)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Online Guide to Meteorology
http://covis1.atmos.uiuc.edu/guide/guide.html
The CoVis Greenhouse Effect Visualizer (web-
based)
Visualization window from ClimateWatcher
displaying surface temperature for January 1987
Exploratorium ExploraNet
(http://www.exploratorium.edu/)
~100,000
Hits
Per Day
(in 1997)
CoVis Mentor Database
(verified registry, checkin/out, email router)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
What changed with CoVis scaling and
diversity from 1992-94 to 1995-97?
– Mainly integrating technology and social
support roles in our redesigns
– Transformations in how we viewed our
roles:
From central invention, building, guiding => To
brokering partners, coordinating events, supporting a
decentralized community with diverse needs
From providing teachers with “resources” for project
science (tools, datasets) => To providing “reform seeds
and services” that vary widely across settings as each
teacher “re-invents” the CoVis Project
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Emerging challenges with scaling
in diverse schools (1996-97)
– Urban schools set up labs with unpredictable access
(to simplify their security needs)
– Low levels of tech support,under-budgeted teacher
training
– Shifting leaders and goals make commitments to
project reforms and technology difficult
– Gaps between present teaching practice & project-
centered learning -- Need on-line and on-site
support, models and guidance for doing projects
– Urban students had far less home computing
experience or access and report less efficacy with
computers (compared to their suburban peers)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
CoVis Teachers Learning Together
Some Lessons Learned in the CoVis
Project
– Innovative computing and communications tools make possible
forms of learning and teaching exciting for kids and teachers
(real-time data, visualizations, telementoring, virtual field
trips, student-scientist partnerships)
– Loosely coupled technological tools and activities are
insufficient to shape classroom reform and change. What’s
better?
• Scheduled CoVis Inter-school Activities (CIAs), such as the
Global Warming Summit
– Teachers are often eager for reform changes in classroom
activities, but it is very hard to produce it by themselves --
brokering and coordination are critical roles
– Not all tools developed for the office workplace fit well with
classroom practices (e.g., videoconferencing)
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Developments from 1997-2002
– Establishment of NSF Center for Learning
Technologies in Urban Schools and
scaling of CoVis throughout urban
schools in Chicago and Detroit using new
generations of WorldWatcher and
curriculum activities
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
LeTUS
– Nearly 100 schools throughout the Chicago and Detroit areas
are using LeTUS science curricula, including new elaborated
versions of the pilot curricula developed in the CoVis Project,
and new versions of the WorldWatcher software.
• “These city school districts recognize the potential of inquiry-driven,
technology-rich science education, and have committed resources
to developing the means to support it. They are changing the way
science is taught in their schools. And they are paving the way for
systemic educational reform.”
– LeTUS also emphasizes curriculum implementation and
revision, and teacher professional development — Local
teachers and university researchers collaborate in the design
and revision of curricula so that local teachers become the
catalysts for change.
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
WorldWatcher Animation:
Incoming solar energy for a year
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
Continuing Challenges for
Project-Based Learning Environments
– Supporting diversity effectively: Different components of
“readiness” for wide-scale technology-supported educational
reforms in science instruction
• Administrative support for continuing teacher
development
• Perspective on curriculum, pedagogy, assessment
• Technology support for reform pedagogy
• Networking and computing infrastructure
– Engaging the scientific community in precollege education
– Sustainability of tools and services
– Issues of access and equity in K-12 technology use, and
home-school-community connectivity
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
DISCUSSION
Nobel Symposium Stanford University
May 27, 2002 Professor Roy Pea
