EDUCATION THROUGH EXPLORATION: LESSONS FROM DIGITAL ACTIVE LEARNING AT SCALE

Active, rather than passive, learning has been widely shown to be the best method of learning for students (e.g., Freeman et al., 2014). This finding is just as important in the realm of online learning, where too many courses opt to use passive learning methods. Here we present work on multiple online active learning projects we have been developing since 2011: Habitable Worlds (online astrobiology course), BioBeyond (online introductory biology course), interactive and immersive virtual field trips (topics in geology, astrobiology, and sustainability), and Infiniscope (space-based activities for K-12). All include lessons and activities that teach geoscience concepts and field observations. These experiences are united by a model of digital learning design that we call “education through exploration” (ETX). ETX builds on the research-based practices of active learning and guided inquiry and provides a set of design principles intended to develop higher order thinking skills and content knowledge. Our ETX experiences ask students to solve problems and actively discover relationships while supporting them with an intelligent tutoring system that provides immediate feedback.

The principles of ETX design come from eight years of iterative work. They include 1) conveying authentic science, 2) learning as a journey, and 3) designing for the medium. For authentic science, activities are built to require scientific habits of mind, learner choice, and real-world problems at the frontiers of knowledge. Learning as a journey requires activities that have goals and utilize student failure as learning moments, complete with assessment of the full journey rather than just the final results. Designing for the medium, in our case digital experiences that are adaptive and interactive, requires designing to maximally utilize the desired medium, not simply importing materials from a different medium.

We will also present direct, comparative evidence in support of the effectiveness of ETX designs, including data from Habitable Worlds and BioBeyond (showing statistically significant shifts in course grades towards A and B grades for both courses) and virtual field trips (showing improvements for student field descriptions and interpretations compared to an in-person field trip to the same location).