BC HP Technology Project

Our focus has been on improving student understanding of scientific content and engaging students in the creation of knowledge and how technology is used to facilitate the development of knowledge. In fact, much of our work can be derived from Bohr’s often quoted phrase, ‘reduce experience to order’ highlights that studying science is about collecting data through experiences, inferring patterns or relationships in those experiences then developing explanations that provide understanding into why certain patterns emerged and others did not. This process is at the heart of our HP funded project. Specifically, we have been leveraging GIS and other visualization tools to engage students and teachers in examining their own neighborhoods beginning with field-based data collection and ending with analysis and presentation of the data through the use of information technology tools. In addition, our project draws the theoretical foundation of situated cognition and the instructional framework of project-based learning.