Authentic Learning through Remote Instrumentation

"Students say they are motivated by solving real-world problems. They often express a preference for doing rather than listening. At the same time, most educators considerlearning-by-doing the most effective way to learn. Yet for decades, authentic learning has been difficult to implement. Certain experiments are too dangerous, difficult, or expensive to conduct in the classroom; many are simply impossible to perform"(Lombardi & Oblinger, 2007).

Lombardi and Oblinger identify a number of ways that technology can support authentic learning including simulations, student created media and peer reviews, but one that I felt was underultilized was the concept of remote instrumentation. They discuss MIT's Remote instrumentation Program (ELI, 2006). Using web accessible remote instrumentation, students can conduct and analyze real scientific experiments using nothing more complicated than a computer. The literature provides a variety of examples of this type of technology available to students. For example, ChickScope (Bruce et. al, 1997) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign allowed students from a variety of kindergarten classes were able to observe and control experiments examining the development of a chicken egg inside an MRI. The Haystack Radio Observatory (Pratap & Salah, 2004) has used the web to let Undergraduate astronomy students make real scientific observations and calculations of deep space objects.

Not only are students able to view the results of past experiments, many of these tools allow students to design and plan the experiments. They get the answers to questions that they ask. I see no truer way of being a scientist. Have any of you run across these types of technologies in your work?

Cheers,
Doug

Bruce, B. C., Carragher, B. O., Damon, B. M., Dawson, M. J., Eurell, J. A., Gregory, C. D., et al. (1997). ChickScope: An interactive MRI classroom curriculum innovation for K-12. Computers & Education, 29(2-3), 73-87.

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. (2006). 7 Things You Should Know About Remote Instrumentation. 7 Things Series (pp. 1-2). Retrieved March 31, 2009 from http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutRemot/156816.

Lombardi, M., & Diana G. Oblinger. (2007). Authentic Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview. The Educause Learning Initiative. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3009.pdf.

Pratap, P., & Salah, J. (2004). The Effectiveness of Internet-Controlled Astronomical Research Instrumentation for Education. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 13(4), 473-484.