Adventures in MET Land

Networked Communities:

The two networked communities I have chosen to study from the supplied list were Exploratorium and Virtual Field Trips. Due to this selection I decide to read articles from Winn et al (2006), Spicer and Stratford (2001), and Fouts (2003) and talk about how knowledge is created within these learning environments.

Exploratorium is a hands-on museum located in California that has created a virtual world of learning for people of all ages. Visitors to the Exploratorium website can participate in many different learning activities. Activities range from learning about/how to dissect a cow’s eye to learning about microscopic objects, such as stem cells, blood cells, and cancer. Virtual Field Trips (VFT) are websites or software based learning environments that allow students to participate in activities or learn about geographical areas that they would not be able to travel to.

Knowledge is constructed in both Exploratorium and VFT environments. Exploratorium provides students and teachers guided learning activities and opportunities. Videos, text, activities, and lessons are provided to the learner. These resources are provided to the leaner within a community based environment. Experts have and are creating science resources based on communication with the user (Fouts, 2003). This creates a community of learning where the students have the opportunity to learn from experts and experts create resources based on learners needs. Learners actively engaged in content, construct knowledge. Thus, active participation within the Exploratorium created environments, either by reading, watching videos, or participating in a school/home based activity allows students to constructs knowledge.

Like Exploratorium, VFT environments provide learners with resources created by experts. The Virtual Field Trip environments can be of past/current field work expeditions where students can observe field research data and had or have the opportunity to communicate with specialists in the field. This provides students who, due to geographical distance, would not be able to experience such environments the ability to virtually experience them. Moreover, communication with an expert affords students with the same opportunities to learn from an expert as if they were in the real environment. The ability to communicate, read experts text, analyze data, look at images and/or watch videos provides students with the opportunity to construct knowledge about these environments as they are actively engaged with the VFT content.

Unlike the VFT’s mentioned above, Spicer and Stratford (2001) and Winn et al (2006) field trips about a tidal pool and Washington’s Puget Sound were activity based and can be considered virtual labs or virtual simulations. Both papers set out to determine if VFT simulations could replace real field research activities. Spicer and Stratford (2001) found that students appreciated the VFT as a prelude to the actual field trip. Students felt that more knowledge was constructed by participating in the actual field trip. However, the same students found the VFT simulation provided them with pre knowledge of the field that intern helped them grasp a deeper understanding of content learnt in the field. Moreover, the authors noted that VFT’s were not coast affective to produce, when compared to actual field trip costs, as large sums of money are required to produce these resources. Unlike Spicer and Stratford (2001), Winn et al (2006) found that field work help contextualize learning for students who did not have experience with the ocean, but the simulation VFT helped students obtain a better connection with the course material.

Learners participating in the Exploratorium and VFT’s construct knowledge as they become actively engaged within the learning experience. Students are actively engaged with content by communicating with experts, performing activities (real or virtual), analyzing researcher’s data, and/or working on provided worksheets.

References:

Fouts, J. (2003). Beyond the brochure: Issues with supporting a broader audience via online          communities. Association of Science-Technology Centers Annual Conference, St. Paul,     MN. pp. 1-8.

Spicer, J., & Stratford, J. (2001). Student perceptions of a virtual field trip to replace a real field   trip. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 17, 345-354.

Winn, W., Stahr, F.  Sarason, C., Fruland, R., Oppenheimer, P., & Lee, Y-L.  (2006).  Learning    oceanography from a computer simulation compared with direct experience at sea.