Technology Project Proposal

Summer 2006

Erin E. Peters

Overview

This project intends to incorporate outdoor learning, inquiry and technology. Students are to design an investigation that answers a question about phenomena of change in our courtyard learning space. I have not yet used the remote function on the Vernier Logger Pros that I have at my school. My students and I have used the immediate measuring functions on the interfaces and probes, but have not stored information to be uploaded into the software at a later time. Learning the remote storage function will give me more flexibility to design lessons that have an outdoor component. Background topics can include any topics from chemistry or physics that my students have studied this year. Ten hours will be spent by learning about the functions and planning lessons (2 hours), working with students in developing and investigating their questions (6 hours), evaluating student work (1 hour), and reflecting on the success of the project (1 hour).

Rationale

As it is the end of the school year, I would like students to revisit content that they studied this year by asking their own questions about the content. Students will be guided to develop inquiry questions that are purposeful and in doing this learn more about how science is a way of knowing. The technology component will allow students to see how improving the data collection phase can also improve the validity and specificity of the analysis phase. Our courtyard space is only two years old and few investigations have been done in this environment. Students will be required to ask questions that are based in physics or chemistry and can be measured with the Logger Pro probes that are available. Once students make conclusions based on their data, they will be asked to compare their findings to published scientific findings. Connecting student questions to the larger body of literature will show students how content learned in class is relevant.

Equipment and Software

Vernier Logger Pro 3.0 software will be utilized along with the Logger Pro interfaces and probes. Available probes include temperature, motion detector, force, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, accelerometers, microphone, pH sensor, and voltage probe. Students will collect data remotely with the chosen probe and interface. After data is collected, students will use laptops loaded with Vernier Logger Pro 3.0 to download and interpret data.

Documentation

Work will be documented using a log, lesson plans and student work. The log will document the dates, times, and the type of activity for this proposal. The lesson plans will document the background work regarding content and technology skills needed to conduct such diverse investigations. The student work will document the effectiveness of the use of technology of this project.