 Over the last year, Ken
Hay at the Learning and Performance
Support Laboratory at the University of Georgia and myself have been
developing an introductory astronomy course for undergraduate students
in which we moved from the large-lecture format to one in which students
are immersed within a technologically-rich, constructionist learning environment.
Specifically, we have undergraduate students using virtual reality to construct
models of the solar system, and in the process, build rich understandings
of various astronomical phenomena. The curriculum was developed collaboratively
by an astronomy professor, Ken Hay and myself, and a graduate student studying
astrophysics and instructional systems technology here at IU. We
have engineered our research and development as a series of "design experiments"
with the intention of carrying out multiple layers of analysis (Brown,
1992), in which we introduce various design modules (thought experiments,
stand-and-deliver sessions, compare/contrast sessions, modeling challenges)
and "trace" learning as it relates to each module. These findings
are then fed back into our classrooms and we examine how these innovations
impact the learning process.
Three projects were designed with the expectation
that students would model various astronomical phenomena on their computers.
1) Project No. 1 is to model the Celestial Sphere. This project requires
students to model fundamental astronomical concepts concerning the equinoxes,
the solstices and the ecliptic and the celestial equator. Students
decide upon scaling parameters, discuss how their model compares with the
real solar system, and generate viewpoints so that users can visualize
the equinoxes and solstices from multiple locations.
2) Project No. 2 is to model the Earth-Moon-Sun system. This includes
proper sizes, distances between objects, surface features, correct tilts
of the bodies, and correct rotation and orbital periods. In addition,
students are to provide a cut-away view or a transparent view that shows
the interior structure of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
3) Project No. 3 is to model the entire solar system, including both the
terrestrial planets and Jovian planets. Specifically, students are
expected to make a model of the Sun, eight planets (Pluto and Ceres as
options), six satellites (Moon, Galilean satellites of Jupiter, Titan,
and Triton), the Saturn ring system, and with the option of adding comets
and asteroids. Again, these bodies must have their proper orbits,
sizes, colors, spin, distances, and interior structures.
Student models are expected to address syllabus-delineated
questions related to important astronomical phenomena. Each group
negotiates plans to answer the questions, identifies resources (textbook,
WWW, and scientists), designs and builds their models, evaluates them,
uses them to demonstrate answers to the initial questions, and shares their
models with other groups. Each project has four concluding activities.
First, teams create a joint paper describing the features of their model.
Second, each student presents and explains their team's model to students
from other groups in an automatic virtual environment (CAVE). The
CAVE is a walk-in stereoscopic VR display device that creates a total immersion
experience for the learner. Third, students engage in a group presentation
in which they demonstrate the functionality of their model to the entire
class, using an overhead display in the regular classroom. Fourth,
students write individual papers that compare and contrast their projects
with other projects in the class and with the characteristics of the real
solar system. These projects allow students to take advantage of virtual
reality and modeling to enact basic astronomy concepts (i.e., tilt of the
Earth, period of orbit, phases of the Moon, the Line of Nodes), facilitating
the development of robust understandings. |
Virtual Solar System Project: Developing Scientific Understanding
Through Model Building