“Telling children how scientists do science does not necessarily lead to far-reaching
changes in how children do science; indeed, it cannot, as along as the school curriculum is based on verbally expressed formal knowledge”. (Papert, 1991, pp. 10 ± 11)

Problem
The student enrollment in the Chemistry classes at my school, is relatively low compared to other science classes. After conducting pre-survey tests, the results showed the low motivation/lack of interest in learning chemistry.

My central goal in my Action Research Project is to use advanced technologies (Blackboard1 and Multimedia software programs) and approaches to pedagogy (social constructivism) to help make the teaching and learning of science in classrooms interesting, motivating and similar to the practice of science by professionals (Pea, 1993).I propose to investigate the effects of a “collaboratory”2 on the HS Science students’ motivation and attitude.

Plan: to use a virtual workplace in which students collaborate with their peers to create multimedia products.
Technology used: Blackboard (e-learning/web-based project) and multimedia software programs (MM).
Participants: Students work on projects in teams using blackboard as a platform.
Teacher is a facilitator/provides guidance for inquiry.
Pedagogies : Problem Based Learning (social constructivist & cooperative learning).
Description of such learning environment : Collaboratory.

1 The Blackboard Learning System™ is a Web-based server software platform that offers industry-leading course management, an open architecture for customization and interoperability, and a scalable design that allows for integration with student information systems and authentication protocols.

2Collaboratory (References) is a learning environment where students come together in a synchronous and a synchronous manner to learn from one another and collaborate in an online virtual environment. Blackboard is used as a platform for creating such an environment. Providing students with these communication technologies allows them to work together beyond the classroom walls.

Research Questions

The focus of this study is to explore the use of a commercially available Internet course management system, namely Blackboard, as a supplement to traditional classroom teaching and learning within a high school science context. My choice of topic for research arises from a belief that the use of such a course management system could prove helpful in bringing innovative communication tools and multimedia programs and addressing the pedagogical problems outlined above.

This educational action research study attempts to explore these and other issues in the context of a small-scale study. The main purpose of the study is to determine if the use of a course management system can enhance the motivation of high school students in the learning of science. The fundamental research question behind this study is how the implementation of a collaboratory, used as a supplement to traditional science classroom teaching, impacts the motivation of students? As discussed above Blackboard will be used to support the collaboratory environment and create an online community for the students.

How can this technology affect student motivation, attitude, and interest in learning science?

It also considers if the use of multimedia programs (Fireworks, Dream weaver, PowerPoint, i-movie) in the classroom helps students represent and develop solutions to local ecological problems.

It also investigates how these multimedia (MM) artifact production can influence the students’ attitudes to learning?

Moreover, it considers if the use of a collaboratory will necessitate the application of alternative pedagogical approaches by the teacher. In other words, can socio-constructivist approaches accommodate these technologies or must alternative methods be applied? This suggestion is succinctly encapsulated in the following quotation, which also indicates recent trends in this area of educational research:

In a similar vein, this particular research attempts to investigate the potential of Blackboard to enhance the learning experience of high school students. It is not proposing that these students will learn more through using Blackboard than through traditional approaches. Rather it is exploring the possibility that virtual learning environments in conjunction with collaborative and problem-based learning can enhance the learning already taking place. It seeks to elicit the views of the students and perhaps go some way towards addressing all the issues outlined above.

 

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize literature related to Problem-based learning (PBL) and the infusion of multimedia into a collaborative virtual environment to examine the effect of such pedagogies and tools on student motivation and interests.

Following this discussion, I further clarify and illuminate the value of these characteristics for the creation of a technology-infused PBL by using them as evaluative criteria for characterizing the collaboratory in which the learners embark on a 6-week long journey. I will also describe how Blackboard may be leveraged to support the collaboratory. Limitations of the implementation of the collaboratory in the science classroom will also be highlighted.