Case-Based Questions

Prepared by Mark A. Templin, University of Toledo

CASE 5.A

After teaching science in a middle school for several years, a member of your immediate family receives an offer for a career promotion. The promotion will require relocating to another region of the country. After consulting with you, the family member accepts the position and you resign your position. Your job search in the new city yields a position at a computer software company. The company hires you because they are interested in developing a line of science education products. Your new boss tells you that your first project will be software that helps students understand molecular structure and motion. Your science education experience and expertise are utilized from the very first design group meeting when you are asked:

1		What are different ways that technology is incorporated into the science classroom and what is the most appropriate role for technology in the science classroom? (See Chapter 5, Scenarios 1-3, pages 169-170 of your text.) (Chapter Learning Performance 5.1)
2		One of the designers suggests including a data generator in the software package so students will have a means to receive unique sets of data to analyze. The designer envisions including a button on a data collection page that will generate a set of data for the students when they click the computer mouse on it. You suggest also including actual instruments, such as a small spectrometer, that students can plug into the computer and use to collect their own data. The designer asks you why you think this is necessary given the extra costs involved. What do you respond? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.2)
3		As the design group continues its work, the designers increasingly recognize the need to design software that helps students collect and analyze their own data. Building on this understanding, you suggest that the software should have provisions for document libraries that enable students to save multiple trials of data collection with the program parameters set at different settings. Why is the ability to create and save multiple experimental trials at different settings important for student learning? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.2, 5.3)
4		As the work continues, a controversy arises over whether or not to include interactive graphics that show how atoms and molecules respond to changes in temperature, pressure, and the presence of catalysts. Some group members want to have the left portion of the screen show a real-time graph of temperature or pressure changes while the right portion shows a dynamic "movie" of atoms and molecules in motion as they respond to these changes. Other group members favor including the graphing window only because the particles-in-motion window is too expensive, too complex to design, and, in the end, is unnecessary. How necessary is the particles-in-motion window? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.2)
5		Question 5 One feature upon which all design group members agree is that the software should include an Email link feature to enable classrooms from across the country to share data and ask questions of scientists. Why are these features important? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.5)

CASE 5.B

You are teaching middle school science and, as a focus of your master's degree, one summer you take a series of three masters courses that help science educators learn about learning technologies. When you return to your school in the fall, you talk to your principal about acquiring some learning technologies to share with your students. The principal is interested, but she asks you to present your request to the school board so funding for technology in science education might be increased. She suggests that the presentation should include answers to the following questions:

6		Describe the three learning technologies that you most want to acquire for students, and describe the key functions of each. (Chapter Learning Performance 5.1)
7		Question 7 What features do the technologies you chose in Question 6, above, have that the students can't get from traditional classroom resources such as textbooks and hands-on materials? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.1, 5.2, 5.5)
8		Years ago, researchers found that as the use of "audiovisual" (at that time these included 16mm films, filmstrips, slide shows, etc.) media increased, students' achievements tended to decrease. This result indicated that the use of audiovisual materials had pitfalls if teachers didn't use them thoughtfully. What are the pitfalls researchers have identified for contemporary learning technologies? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.6)
9		How can the pitfall you described in Question 7 above be avoided by teachers of science when designing instruction for students? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.4)
10		If the school board asked you to demonstrate a learning technology that was appropriate to use in middle grades science, which technology would you choose and what would you do? (Chapter Learning Performance 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5)