This talk seeks to contribute to the discussion of the pedagogical dimensions and implementation issues associated with new learning tools in the digital libraries. In particular, this talk will explore how general recommendations for reform of geoscience education intersect with the constraints of the real classroom. The discussion will focus on our experiences with the Visual Geophysical Exploration Environment (VGEE) in an undergraduate classroom.

The VGEE is an inquiry-based curriculum and accompanying set of computer tools that allows undergraduate students to investigate authentic data by constructing multi-dimensional visualizations. The VGEE addresses many of the general recommendations for reform of geoscience education; it adopts an inquiry-based, hands-on approach, emphasizes student use of data and authentic scientific tools, and nurtures both scientific process and content understanding.

In the fall of 2002, the VGEE was used in one of two otherwise identical general education atmospheric science classes at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. A variety of evaluations allowed us to examine the effectiveness of this environment and identify obstacles to student learning. The results are promising; the group that used the VGEE showed more improvement in their understanding over the course of the semester. Nevertheless, some obstacles to student understanding in the VGEE, and in inquiry- and visualization based curricula in general, were identified. These include: distrust of inquiry processes, lack of investigatory strategies, concern over evaluation, visualization skills, and technological issues.

Our presentation will explore these obstacles and describe strategies to address them. The presentation will also include a more detailed discussion of the data from the classroom implementation of the VGEE.

The VGEE was developed by Dan Bramer, Dean Elliot, Kenneth E. Hay, Mary Marlino, Don Middleton, Mohan Ramamurthy, Tim Scheitlin, Marianne Weingroff, Robert Wilhelmson, and John Yoder, with support from the National Science Foundation.