TEACHING SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS WITH AN INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED PLATFORM: THE RITES APPROACH

The Rhode Island Technology-Enhanced Science project (RITES) is an NSF-funded Math and Science Partnership grant whose goal is to improve science education for middle and high school students in Rhode Island. The project has developed a series of online, inquiry-rich science investigations that are available to science teachers within the state, and which provides professional development to these teachers. These investigations target state mandated Grade Span Expectations (GSEs), as specified by the Rhode Island Department of Education, as well as regionally mandated science assessments (the New England Common Assessment Protocol, or NECAP).

The RITES investigations allow students to access their work from any computer with an Internet connection. The use of web standards and platform independent technologies allows students to continue their work from any computer that can access a web based portal (requiring only one of the common web browsers) and run applications written in Java. The investigations platform supports collecting and graphing data from probeware in real-time, working with computer simulations (e.g. NetLogo, PhET, Molecular Workbench), and linking to and embedding online resources. Use of these inquiry-rich modules is supported by content and structure designed by collaborating teams of higher education, K-12 faculty, the RITES project staff, and the Concord Consortium. After an investigation has been created, teachers interested in using the investigation with students may attend a 2.5-day short course that covers both the content of the investigation and training on how to use it effectively. Investigations may include embedded assessments that may be used to provide formative or summative feedback to students.

Teachers have expressed high levels of satisfaction from learning the content, understanding how to use the education technology, and having the opportunity to collaborate with peers both in K-12 and higher education. Pre-post testing run on the teachers has shown that the PD sessions have increased content gain. These assessments are being used in classrooms as well to measure the effect of increased teacher effectiveness using the investigations.