Contents

Science Education
Virtual Solar System
Virtual Gorilla
Elementary Ed.
Elem. & Secondary

Science Education: Virtual Solar System

Course Homepage: http://vss.crlt.indiana.edu/

The Virtual Solar System project is an innovative project in which students construct and explore models of the solar system using 3-D modeling technologies.

Context	The Virtual Solar System project used computational modeling technologies to teach introductory Astronomy at Indiana University. In lieu of going to lectures or taking tests, students designed computational models of the Solar System. I participated in the project since it started in 1998 as a data analyzer and assisted in the writing of publications concerning the project. I also was the primary instructor for this project and as such this project has added to both my research and teaching experience. I participated in this project for both my professional development and because I enjoy teaching science and technology courses.
Conditions	This course is primarily for non-science majors and is usually taken by students because they need a science course to graduate. I was the instructor for the course for four semesters. After each course The project was led by Dr. Sasha Barab and Dr. Ken Hay though I played a significant role in the design of the course. I also contributed significantly to the instruments we developed, and the presentation of our findings through journal articles and conference presentations.
Scope	This project spanned about three years and has resulted in several courses being taught at two Universities and one elementary school. The project was a full-blown design experiment and went from prototype to adoption in multiple K-16 classrooms.
Role	My role in this project was that of a researcher and teacher. I participated in one semester of the pilot study as a data coder, analyzer, and writer. At the conclusion of each course I participated in weekly research meetings and contributing heavily to the data analysis and writing of the results. I believe that I added a pragmatic orientation to our research team in that I was strongly interested in how the technology supported student learning. We have generated eight publications from this project to date, and I share authorship on all of the papers. In all of these papers, I wrote at least one section of the paper and contributed to how the study was framed and what conclusions we generated.

VSS Published Papers:

Barab, S. A., Barnett, M., Yamagata-Lynch, L., Squire, K., & Keating, T. (in press). Using activity theory to understand the contradictions characterizing a technology-rich introductory astronomy course. To appear in Mind, Culture, and Activity.

Barnett, M., Barab, S. A., & Hay, K. E. (2001). The virtual solar system project: Student modeling of the solar system. The Journal of College Science Teaching, 30(5), 300-305.

Barnett, M., Keating, T., Barab, S., & Hay, K. (2000). Conceptual change through building three-dimensional models. In B. J. Fishman & O'Connor S. F. (Eds.). Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 134-142). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Barab, S. A., Hay, K. E., Barnett, M., & Keating, T. (2000). Virtual solar system project: Building understanding through model building. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37(7), 719-756.

Barab, S., A., Hay, K. E., Squire, K., Barnett, M., Schmidt, R., Karrigan, K., & Johnson, C. (2000). Virtual solar system project: Developing scientific understanding through model building. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 9, 7-26.

Barnett, M., Yamagata-Lynch, L., Barab, S. A., & Keating, T. (2001). Developing an understanding of astronomical concepts through model designing. Manuscript submitted for publication in Science Education.

VSS: Conference Presentations

Barnett, M., MaKinster, J. G., & Hansen, J. (2001, April). Exploring elementary students' learning of astronomy through model building. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, Seattle, WA.