Using Distance Video Technologies in Research on In-service Professional

Development

James A Shymansky and Charles C. Matthews University of Missouri-St. Louis

Project Basics

A 5-Year K-6 DR K-12 “Resources & Tools” project focused on building Internet communities of practice to share lesson plans and videos showing ways to “Adapt Science Kits” to teach more than science when doing science inquiry—Just ASK!!

Session Focus:Our Use of Interactive Television

Specifically, how we use ITV for:

*Gathering research data

*Generating ASK lessons for website sharing

*Maintaining communities of practice

The Distance Technology

• ITV equipment

• Access requirements

• Cost benefits

The Research/Evaluation Plan

• Pre-post “blind” video samples

• Pre-post kit-specific content tests

• High stakes ITBS and MAP scores

• HLM analysis of data set

Maintaining Communities of Practice

• Summer workshop

• School-year ITV sessions for each Community of Practice

• Monthly ITV staff meetings with COP leaders

Lesson Plan Templatefor the Website

• Lesson title

• Source

• Curriculum connections

• Overview

• Objectives – science

• Objectives – connected area(s)

Lesson Plan Template(continued)

• Student preconceptions -- science

• Challenges – connected area(s)

• Teaching the ASK lesson

• Look-fors (assessment plan)

• Teacher contact information – for further interaction

Generating ASK Lesson Videos

• A sample ASK video adapting an STC “Solids & Liquids” lesson for Grade 2

Reading

A sample ASK Lesson Video

School-year ITV sessions for each Community of Practice

---------------A Sampling froman “Ecosystems” Community of Practice ITV Session

Email to the teachers• Vecca,• I provided your fax and a video of the ITV discussion to Dr. George Cain for his suggestions.  His

Email is included below.  I'm sure that you and your students will find Dr. Cain's ideas useful. • Dr. Cain is the lead science consultant for the Just ASK project. He received a B. S. in Biology from

Sterling (KS) College, and a M. S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University (1968) in Biological Sciences. In 1970, Dr. Cain joined the faculty of the University of Iowa in what was then the Department of Zoology and over a thirty-year period at Iowa twice served as de partment chair and also served a term as Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He served as Principal Investigator on three undergraduate biological education improvement grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and as lead science consultant on both the NSF-funded Science PALs and Science Co-op projects between 1994 and 2005. A long-time member of the American Society of Parasitologists, he served as Secretary-Treasurer of that Society from 1996-2003. He is a member of several other scientific societies as well. He is the author or co-author of over 60 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

• As indicated in Dr. Cain's Email, he is very interested in learning how your investigations develop. Please keep us updated. 

• Thanks for sharing your kit implementation with us.• Charles

George Cain’s Responses• I think the folks on your website had some pretty reasonable ideas as to the cause of the "slime."  Before I

came to the part about using potting soil, I was ready to suggest that using non-sterilized soil--soil that was rich in fungal spores--might have led to the growth of a fungus.  The possibility of a slime mold--mentioned by someone--is feasible, but not in pre-sterilized soil.  Check with the folks who prepared the soil to make sure that unsterilized wasn't used.

• It may also be that potting soils have a "thickening" agent in them, and with excess watering, it could leach downward into the aquatic environment.  From the descriptions of the fish, though, it sounds like the water was oxygen-depleted.  This would be true if the Elodea wasn't getting enough light, as someone suggested.  One could test this by taking a few fish out and putting them in tap water that had had a bubbler in it for a day or so (not distilled water).   If the water is oxygen-depleted, that would support the notion that the slime is organismic, i.e. that it uses oxygen.  Another factor to consider is whether there has been a temperature change in the room--oxygen is much less soluble in warm water than cold.

• Back to the soil again, you might want to see if you still get the slime if you use Iowa topsoil, spread out on a tray and  baked in a 450-degree oven for about 30 min.  And do a side-by-side comparison with non-sterilized soil.

• I think the teachers had some hypotheses that were testable.  They should think about what kind of an experiment they might do to rule something out.

• Good luck and keep me informed.

ITV Challenges and Issues

• Teacher anxieties

• Firewall issues

• School technical staff

• PolyCom dependability & costs

• ???