Brian Drayton - Böcker

Connected by a computer telecommunications network, ninth-graders from eight high schools scattered thousands of miles across Alaska work together, building a robot submarine to gather samples from the floor of Prince William Sound.This is high school science as some teachers and educational reformers today envision it -- centered on student projects that encourage learning by doing...supported by modern technology...enriched by collaboration among students and teachers, both face to face and far apart.This example is drawn from LabNet, a three-year effort funded by the National Science Foundation. The project was conducted by Technical Education Research Centers (TERC), a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to improving mathematics and science education. Eventually reaching 562 teachers in 37 states, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa, LabNet had a direct impact on their classroom practice. In a follow-up evaluation, the majority said they had assigned their students more projects and had used LabNet's telecommunications network to exchange project ideas with other teachers. This book is the story of LabNet as told by its editors, with 14 additional essays on science projects -- both theoretical and practical -- by LabNet teachers and TERC staff.

Connected by a computer telecommunications network, ninth-graders from eight high schools scattered thousands of miles across Alaska work together, building a robot submarine to gather samples from the floor of Prince William Sound.This is high school science as some teachers and educational reformers today envision it -- centered on student projects that encourage learning by doing...supported by modern technology...enriched by collaboration among students and teachers, both face to face and far apart.This example is drawn from LabNet, a three-year effort funded by the National Science Foundation. The project was conducted by Technical Education Research Centers (TERC), a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to improving mathematics and science education. Eventually reaching 562 teachers in 37 states, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa, LabNet had a direct impact on their classroom practice. In a follow-up evaluation, the majority said they had assigned their students more projects and had used LabNet's telecommunications network to exchange project ideas with other teachers. This book is the story of LabNet as told by its editors, with 14 additional essays on science projects -- both theoretical and practical -- by LabNet teachers and TERC staff.

This volume presents the work of trailblazing researchers and developers of electronic communities for professional learning. It illuminates the essential work behind the scenes in building successful online communities and scaffolding site interactions, including content selection, creation and management, administrative structures, tools and interactive functionalities, the facilitation of discourse and emergent sub-communities, and the development of online leadership. While each of the authors is knowledgeable about site design, new technologies, and collaborative Web tools, their work is deeply influenced and informed by scholarship which has unfolded over the last three decades about how professional learning takes place, particularly for math and science educators.