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TOOLS FOR HYBRID SYNCHRONOUS / ASYNCHRONOUS INTERACTION43  Course delivery systems 44  Community management systems 44  E  for Exploration of learning objects DIGITAL MANIPULATIVES THAT SUPPORT CONJECTURAL EXPLORATION Some Resources for Manipulating Scientific Digital Objects Some Resources for Digitally Manipulating Mathematical Objects LEARNING THROUGH EXPLORATION AND CONJECTURE Web Explorations Digital Exploration of Our Planet

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Using ICTE to improve teaching PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITH ICTE Personal growth with ICTE Career advancement with ICTE COURSE ENHANCEMENT WITH ICTE ICTEs embedded in course requirements ICTEs to enhance teaching strategies

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About the author

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Acknowledgements

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Glossary

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Works Cited

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Reference List for ICTE in footnotes

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E

for Exploration of learning objects

Students must acquire large amounts of cultural, scientific and technological knowledge in an effort to master the prescribed curriculum. In many cases though, they do not have the opportunity to experience the kinds of phenomena which can enrich their knowledge. Good explanations and complete textual and audiovisual documentation are often useful in presenting a mental model ---at least from the eyes of the facilitator (the teacher). However, this type of expository activity may not be sufficient for achieving full conceptual understanding. Science laboratories equipped with state of the art equipment help to carry out direct practice with a distinct degree of realism and precision. The apprentices can then formulate their own theses and conclusions as a basis for discussions with others and to build knowledge. These resources, however, are expensive and therefore are often not available to students. Field work and scale models also replicate direct experiences which help to obtain evidence that permits the construction of knowledge; but Establishing a PLACE for teaching technologies 

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everyone cannot go to places to explore the objects under study, nor can scale models capture the functionality that they possess. Consequently, it is not always viable to have a direct experience with real objects, at times because of their size (micro or macro), the limited availability (phenomena of very low regularity) or simply because of costs. Reasons such as the ones cited above have justified the great efforts of educational research groups in the fields of mathematics, science, technology and engineering to make available to students and teachers technological devices that expand abilities, capture information and permit individuals to discriminate and analyze data.

Digital Manipulatives that Support Conjectural Exploration The following group of objects can be digitally manipulated and controlled by the user. This control means that the user can alter the status of the variables that affect the behavior of the object under study and this may act organically; that is to say, like a live organism which responds to the manipulation of said variables. Some Resources for Manipulating Scientific Digital Objects The following list does not exhaust the possibilities that exist to obtain digital manipulatives that support scientific learning centered on the student through research, experimentation and collaboration. Nonetheless, they are a good initial collection. NSDL—National Science Digital Library [123] is a US electronic library created to support education and research in sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. It offers free access to electronic materials for elementary education instructors, university professors, biotechnologists, the scientific community and newcomers to the discipline. MOLO, Molecular Logic Project [124] is a project that searches for students who want to understand fundamental biological phenomenon in terms of atom and molecule interaction. Among

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http://nsdl.org/ http://molo.concord.org

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other things, MOLO has activities on macro-molecules, intermolecular attractions, synthesis, the splitting of proteins. MOLO has a database of activities for student and teacher use that can be accessed by distinct concepts key words or numbers. Each activity indicates what technology is required; some are editable and all have student and teacher instructions. MOLO was produced by the Concord Consortium. After registering, this public domain software can be downloaded and the source code can be adapted under LGPL license. PHYSICS.ORG [125] is a site created by the London Institute of Physics of the United Kingdom in order to support students, families and interested educators in learning physics by means of exploration and reflection. It has an online consultation system that pairs questions with web sites where the answers may be found. Also, relevant web sites are included that are pre-classified by age and previous user knowledge. Moreover, Physics.org offers a collection of study sites which have been used in the teaching and learning of physics concepts; it reviews a web site monthly. This site has interactive resources that explore in a playful way the concepts of physics used in daily life and the history of the discipline. It also favors the understanding and exploration of natural phenomenon through technology. TEEMS [126], Technology Enhanced Elementary Math and Science, is a project of the Concord Consortium of Massachusetts with financing by the National Science Foundation. It produces learning units that use computers, sensors and interactive models for learning mathematics and science. The digital resources can be run on multiple desktop and handheld computer platforms utilizing any commercially provided sensors that exemplify the nine US standards for teaching the sciences in grades 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. The resources have user guides for students and teachers and are free after registering on the project web site. The software code is open and its utilization requires the user to accept a lesser general public license (LGLP). XPLORA [127]. This is a European portal that supports science education. It is free and is presented in three languages: English, French and German. It offers news and pedagogical ideas for

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http://www.physics.org/index.asp http://portal.teemss2.concord.org http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/index.htm

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science instructors. It provides access to a data base of electronic resources for science education. It also opens the door to projects and innovative focuses for practical teaching. It allows registered users to create and to participate in virtual communities.

Some Resources for Digitally Manipulating Mathematical Objects The following web sites include resources that help to enliven experiences using mathematical concepts. MATHSNET [128] gives access to a collection of web produced resources or those suggested by the Interactive Tools for Science and Math program for student and teacher use. The great majority of the applications offered by this service are in Java, are free and support the learning of mathematics or science at the secondary level. NLVM—National Library of Virtual Manipulatives— [129] was created to support the interactive learning of mathematics and includes a collection of applications in Java (Java applets) that are utilized by Internet users; it was created by the State University of Utah. It includes manipulatives for distinct ages and different groups of standards for teaching mathematics. Each manipulative comes with instructions, with help for parents and lesson plans for educators, and with an explanation of the mathematics standards that support its use. It is possible to get copies of the CD or to use it on the web. SEEING MATH INTERACTIVES [130] offers a collection of digital manipulatives (digital objects that can be manipulated and respond organically to stimuli that they receive) for playing with secondary algebra concepts that are difficult to understand. Each digital manipulative allows for multiple representations of mathematical knowledge (symbolic, numeric, graphic). In order to use them one must have Java [131] in the same version or higher than 1.3.1. These interactives, produced by the Concord Consortium of Massachusetts, can be installed and used freely in educational institutions or by educators who register on the web site. Also they can be adjusted for whoever downloads the code for the LGLP open license.

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http://www.mathsnet.net/asa2/2004/tech.html http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html http://seeingmath.concord.org/sms_interactives.html http://www.java.com

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Learning Through Exploration and Conjecture There are many ways of learning conjecturally and by discovery beyond the use of digital manipulatives. Let’s review below the methods and tools that have been shown to be effective in this process. Web Explorations Web explorations are like organized field trips with educational ends. They place the learner in contact with first hand information that he can use as he pleases. Let’s review two of the best known methodologies and tools. CYBERGUIDES [132] are web resources that support the creation of learning units focused on analyzing universal works of literature. The Cyberguides are instructional units about literature used as supplementary material the responds to the language standards of the State of California. Each Cyberguide contains student and teacher versions specifying the standards that are being addressed, the activities and processes that are being carried out, the sites selected and a rubric for orientation and evaluation. WEBQUEST [133] is a methodology and a tool for constructing exploration activities using the web. It was developed in San Diego State University. It offers teachers the opportunity to examine and to select learning activities based on the web and to structure them as a lesson.

Bernie Dodge, the creator of WebQuest at San Diego State University explains (2007) that technologically, creating a WebQuest can be very simple. As long as you can create a document with hyperlinks, you can create a WebQuest. That means that a WebQuest can be created in Word, Powerpoint, and even Excel! If you're going to call it a WebQuest, though, be sure that it has all the critical attributes.

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http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/cyberguide.html http://webquest.org/

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A real WebQuest.... 

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is wrapped around a doable and interesting task that is ideally a scaled down version of things that adults do as citizens or workers. requires higher level thinking, not simply summarizing. This includes synthesis, analysis, problem-solving, creativity and judgment. makes good use of the web. A WebQuest that isn't based on real resources from the web is probably just a traditional lesson in disguise. (Of course, books and other media can be used within a WebQuest, but if the web isn't at the heart of the lesson, it's not a WebQuest.) isn't a research report or a step-by-step science or math procedure. Having learners simply distilling web sites and making a presentation about them isn't enough. isn't just a series of web-based experiences. Having learners go look at this page, then go play this game, then go here and turn your name into hieroglyphs doesn't require higher level thinking skills and so, by definition, isn't a WebQuest.

Digital Exploration of Our Planet The teaching of social sciences has a large number of applications which support the exploration of our planet from different heights with different levels of details. GOOGLE EARTH [134] and WORLD WIND [135] are two exploration tools of physical sites from any place on the planet that allow visual images to be taken from a satellite and come as close as possible. Both use geographical information systems with maps that can be seen from different heights with different levels of detail. Although they may look alike, they are different products [136]. Both tools offer free versions. Google Earth is basic, although it is possible to get a more advanced version. Once installed, one learns how to use the tools through direct experience (trial and error), guided

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http://earth.google.com http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ http://www.worldwindcentral.com/65wiki/Google_Earth_comparison

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experience (using online support), by demonstration (following the tutorial) or being part of interest groups.

When these tools are used collaboratively by students to research and construct knowledge, they can be combined with other tools to create a publishable document or object. It is becoming popular to use Google Earth to make cyber –excursions through countries where another language is spoken with the purpose of expanding students´ linguistic, literary, cultural, geophysical and geopolitical knowledge by consulting multimedia geo-referenced resources that are associated with the places of the cyber-excursions. From these findings students can share electronic reflections and participate in discussion forums, or blogs, about the multiple perspectives obtained.

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