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November 17, 1999
This is the essential question we are looking at in the Ubiquitous Images project.
This project is funded by a seed grant from the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies
(http://www.cilt.org/) and ongoing funding secured by the Concord Consortium as part
of its leadership of the CILT Ubiquitous Computing theme. The project collaborators
include the University of Michigan School of Education and the Concord Consortium
(http://www.concord.org/). This is a small research grant extending over the 99/00
school year.
Abstract
We plan to examine the use of digital cameras embedded in activities supporting field-based
science investigations by students at several grade levels. Digital camera technology
is improving extremely quickly and these devices are rapidly becoming ubiquitous.
Until recently integrating digital visual recording into student investigations has
been rare. We believe that by embedding the recording and analysis of images over
space and time in a suite of field-based investigations many phenomena which normally
remain abstract will become more concrete and knowable. We will outfit several class
settings at different grade levels with ongoing field-based investigations with digital
camera technology. We will work with teachers to develop pilot activities which use
the cameras to expand the range of analysis conducted by the students. We will be
specifically looking for new student understandings and situations in which students
use images to describe phenomena. We will write up our work and results and speculate
on ways in which a palm-sized computer/camera hybrid device could be designed and
used to better support these types of investigations.
Concord Consortium
37 Thoreau Street
Concord, MA 01742
Stephen Bannasch, Project Coordinator/Concord, stephen@concord.org
Carolyn Staudt, Curriculum Developer, carolyn@concord.org
University of Michigan
Joe Krajcik, Principal Investigator, krajcik@umich.edu
Ann Rivet, Project Coordinator/Umich, arivet@umich.edu
We plan to examine the use of digital cameras embedded in activities supporting
field-based science investigations by students at several grade levels. Digital camera
technology is improving extremely quickly and these devices are rapidly becoming
ubiquitous. Until recently integrating digital visual recording into student investigations
has been rare. We believe that by embedding the recording and analysis of images
over space and time in a suite of field-based investigations many phenomena which
normally remain abstract will become more concrete and knowable.
We will support three different school settings with imaging technology and curricular
support for integrating ubiquitous imaging into ongoing field-based investigations.
We will work with teachers and scientists to develop pilot activities which use digital
cameras to expand the range of analysis conducted by the students. We will be specifically
looking for new student understandings and situations in which students use images
to describe phenomena.
Using digital images provides special capabilities which are unavailable with regular
cameras. First there is no cost for the film except a students time and after taking
an image it can be immediately reviewed and if a problem is detected discarded and
another picture taken. Secondly images can be recorded and classified with a computer.
Additionally a sequence of images can be taken over a period of several hours, weeks,
or months to show changes over time which are not easily perceived under direct observation.
Imaging also allows collections to be created without actually disturbing or removing
flora or fauna.
We will write up our work and results and speculate on ways in which a palm-sized
computer/camera hybrid device could be designed and used to better support these
types of investigations. In order to better support learning it is very helpful to
have software-based scaffolding built into the camera. While this is unavailable
in the current generation of cameras there are new devices coming out which combine
the functions of a color palm computer with a high quality digital camera. On this
system we could support the collection of additional data when a picture is taken
and provide immediate referral to background information to help answer questions.
Even field-based analysis could be performed on the image which could affect the
decisions about what image to take next.
We will develop and pilot test imaging-based activities for use in middle school
and elementary schools.
Ann Rivet and Joe Krajcik are working in the Detroit, Michigan public middle schools
as part of the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS). LeTUS is
an NSF-funded distributed center consisting of the University of Michigan and the
Detroit Public Schools, and Northwestern University and the Chicago Public Schools.
The goals for the center are to improve the teaching and learning of science for
all students through supporting standards-based systemic change, and to embed the
use of learning technologies to improve the motivation and learning of all students.
Currently LeTUS is funded through 2002 and is working in fifteen middle schools in
Detroit, providing those teachers and students with new technologies such as probeware
and Model-It software, supported by innovative, project-based science curriculum
and intensive professional development. The introduction of digital camera technologies
to this urban setting is a natural extension of the work already occurring in these
schools, especially when set in the context of project-based science. Ann and Joe
will develop and adapt activities and projects which embed the use of digital cameras
into existing project-based science curriculum materials. Ann will do the actual
testing in schools.
Stephen Bannasch Director of Technology at the Concord Consortium will work with
Carolyn Staudt also at the Consortium to develop pilot activities for an elementary
classroom in Massachusetts.
We believe that while much of the information presented to students today is visually-based
most students have very little experience using images they have taken to understand
the world around them. By creating appropriate activities and putting digital cameras
in the hands of students we expect to tap into today's students more sophisticated
visual literacy to promote a greater awareness of environmental changes and better
support for traditional means of observation and analysis.
We expect to learn much about how student-initiated imaging can support and motivate
richer investigation and better appreciation for changes over longer time scales
than that of a class period.
Our work will also inform the designers of digital cameras of the features most needed
for use of this technology in student investigations. Additionally we will specify
a preliminary software architecture and design for cameras directly connected to
palm-sized computers. These hybrid devices can be much more powerful than the sum
of the two parts by combining appropriate software scaffolding and support for investigation
right into the user interface for the camera.
We will also develop and collaborate on proposals for expanding the work of this
project. The work in this project will be invaluable for crafting larger and more
completely informed proposals.
A major meeting of the project team is planned for Dec 3-4 1999. Pilot activity development will take place from Dec 1999 to February 2000 and Pilot testing in schools will take place from March 2000 to June 2000
Stephen Bannasch graduated in 1982 with a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst
Massachusetts. His thesis was titled: Microcomputer Based Monitoring of a Passive
Solar Envelope House. He designed a micro-computer based monitoring system to measure
the performance of an experimental passive-solar home he had helped build. Shortly
after that he joined TERC to pioneer with Bob Tinker many of TERC's efforts in MBL,
datalogging, and telecommunications technology. He was a full-time co-project director
of the Global Laboratory project in charge of technology developments including instrumentation
and telecommunications. In this role he has developed and managed the development
of technological innovations that range from a device to measure ground-level ozone
using rubber thread in a $10 instrument to a $400 instrument using interference filters
and UV sensitive photodiodes to measure the thickness of the stratospheric ozone
layer. Stephen has served as Concord Consortium's Director of Technology since its
inception and has been responsible for network and server infrastructure as well
as directing the technical efforts in the Science Learning in Context project where
he developed a suite of smart microprocessor-enhanced probes. Stephen has an unusual
combination of communication as well as hardware and software engineering skills
and the ability to use these skills to create technologies adapted to the educational
community.
Joe Krajcik is a professor of Science Education at the University of Michigan. He
is also co-Principle Investigator for the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban
Schools. He is currently serving as president for the National Association for Research
in Science Teaching. He is widely published, and has received much recognition for
his work in the development of project-based science.
Ann Rivet is a doctoral student in Science Education at the University of Michigan
working with Joe Krajcik. She received a BS in physics from Brown University, 1996
with a senior thesis in high-energy particle physics. She worked at TERC from 1996-1998
both on the Global Lab Project technology and curriculum development as well as the
Bridges to Classroom Mathematics developing professional development materials for
elementary math teachers. Presently she is working as a graduate research assistant
for the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools in the Detroit Michigan
public schools doing observation, data collection, teacher professional development,
classroom support, and curriculum development.
Carolyn Staudt is a curriculum designer for technology- and Internet-based projects,
including Models and Data, Mobile Inquiry Computing, SLiC, VHS, GLOBE, KGS (Kids
As Global Scientists), and NetAdventure at the Concord Consortium. Carolyn is especially
intrigued with allowing students to collect real-time data with portable sensors
and probes attached to handheld computers and microcomputer-based lab (MBL) systems.
She has designed professional development that includes implementation of technology
into the classroom curriculum, teacher and student utilization of existing software,
design of tailored activities, and manipulation of software up to, and including,
scripting. She has 20 years experience teaching science and math, including physics,
chemistry, geoscience and space science. She holds a Masters of Education in Curriculum
and Instruction in science from Kent State University. She was a Christa McAuliffe
Fellow in 1990 and the Fairlawn, Ohio, Citizen of the Year in 1991.