In recent decades “graphs and other mathematical representations have come to play an increasingl... more In recent decades “graphs and other mathematical representations have come to play an increasingly important role in mathematical activities in schools ” (Monk, 2003). Graphs are commonly used in science, mathematics and social science classrooms to convey important concepts. In spite of the central role of graphs, students at all ages demonstrate difficulties interpreting graphs (Woolnough, 2000; Zee & McDermott, 1987). As is the case with learning to read or to write, students need to repeatedly explore, create, manipulate, and explain graphs in order to learn how to use them well (Monk, 2003). SmartGraphs Software With the clear need for helping students better understand graphs and the concepts represented in graphs (such as slope, velocity, half-life, and global warming), the Concord Consortium developed SmartGraphs under a National Science Foundation grant (DRL-0918522). SmartGraphs activities allow students to interact with graphs, for example by clicking on a point in a grap...
the threshold of rocket mail. ” The idea of delivering mail by rockets was a dream as early as 19... more the threshold of rocket mail. ” The idea of delivering mail by rockets was a dream as early as 1929—but, of course, it never happened. Are educators in danger of accepting ideas about transforming schools with technology that are as unlikely to happen as delivering postal mail by rocket ship? Even if you and I are not, some of our colleagues are—and their beliefs are creating unrealistic expectations affecting all of us. For example, online courses and schools are wildly popular. One book published in 2008, whose lead author is at the Harvard Business School, confidently predicted that by 2018 half of all high school courses in the United States would be taught online. 1 The book won several awards, and articles based on it appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and other publications—even though the authors seem to think that online high school courses are taught automatically by computers rather than by human teachers, which is not true! One wishes that were the only ...
From the Publisher: Just a decade ago, the notion of attending high school on the Internet seemed... more From the Publisher: Just a decade ago, the notion of attending high school on the Internet seemed futuristic. Yet, today, thousands of students are doing just that. This authoritative volume is the first to provide a thorough, detailed account of the virtual high school. Based on a 5-year study conducted by experienced researchers at SRI International, this book answers such questions as: What is the difference between an online and a face-to-face classroom? What is it like to take, or to teach, an online course? Are online courses effective? What are the problems with its use? Will this new technology change the way teaching and learning is done?
Many governmental entities—countries, states, and regions—are studying the possibility of stimula... more Many governmental entities—countries, states, and regions—are studying the possibility of stimulating educational gains and economic development by supplying every student and teacher with a personal, portable computer. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort led by Nicholas Negroponte has popularized this idea and has generated increased appreciation that some such technology is certain to be available and widely affordable, whether it is the OLPC computer, Intel’s ClassmatePC, regular laptops, cellphones, or some unforeseen innovation. This White Paper deals with three issues that governments need to address in order to realize educational gains in science and mathematics education from one-computer-per-child initiatives: teacher professional development, instructional materials, and research, as each pertains to 1:1 computing.
This report examines the history of the United States Federal Government support for education te... more This report examines the history of the United States Federal Government support for education technology research and development. The report identifies funding level for several civilian and military Federal agencies over time period, nature of programs and projects supported, six case studies of illustrative R&D program, and factors policy recommendations.
The Concord Consortium is developing software for elementary school science based on principles o... more The Concord Consortium is developing software for elementary school science based on principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The goal is to help teachers meet each student's needs, including students with learning disabilities, English language learners, and others. The UDL software we have developed includes a variety of features to make the curriculum more accessible, including: Smart Graphs and Smart Models, text-to-speech, a digital glossary, scaffolded assistance, automated "coaches," and stories. Preliminary data are reported showing the frequency of use of some of these features as well as teachers' and students' opinions about them.
The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer network-based courses ta... more The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer network-based courses taught by consortium teachers for students in participating schools. Each school contributes at least one teacher who teaches a VHS course online, typically in place of teaching a section of a regular course at the school. In the VHS model, the school also provides a site coordinator who handles administrative matters and supervises local students enrolled in VHS courses. The VHS teachers, with the help of experts, design netcourses to be offered over the Internet, using the LearningSpace software. Each school in the consortium can enroll 20 students in these netcourses for each section of a teacher's time (i.e., one netcourse) that it contributes to the pool. The quality of the course offerings is controlled, in part, by requiring each VHS teacher to successfully complete a graduate-level netcourse (called the Teachers Learning Conference) on the design and development of network-bas...
Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the a... more Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.
The coronavirus pandemic vividly illuminates deficiencies of the Next Generation Science Standard... more The coronavirus pandemic vividly illuminates deficiencies of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The NGSS does not mention immunization, antibodies, vaccines, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nor do they ask students to investigate a topic outside the standards or read a science-related book or article. The stated goal of the standards is to prepare students for college and careers, which means that they do not prioritize how science connects to societal or personal concerns of every adult, even those who do not pursue science in higher education or their careers. Andrew Zucker and Pendred Noyce suggest several approaches to improve the NGSS.
Arlington, VA: SRI International. Retrieved July, Nov 1, 1999
The move to the new campus, AHS 2000, is scheduled for this summer, and the 1999-2000 school year... more The move to the new campus, AHS 2000, is scheduled for this summer, and the 1999-2000 school year will open there. Every classroom will have 48 Internet drops, the school will issue laptops to students for approximately 14 “laptop-saturated classes,” and the local community college will co-locate specific courses with the high school. In addition, AHS will offer for credit to its students approximately 100 Web-based courses that other accredited colleges administer. VHS is only one of many distance learning courses in the AHS ...
Arlington, VA: SRI International. Retrieved July, Oct 1, 1998
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer networ... more EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer networkbased courses taught by consortium teachers for students in consortium schools. Each school contributes at least one teacher, who teaches a VHS course in place of teaching a section of a regular course at the school. The school also provides a site coordinator who handles administrative matters and supervises local students enrolled in VHS courses. The VHS teachers, with the help of experts, design and offer netcourses ...
In Transforming Schools with Technology, Andrew Zucker identifies major concerns facing education... more In Transforming Schools with Technology, Andrew Zucker identifies major concerns facing education today, frames related transformational goals, and discusses and provides examples of how today's technologies can contribute to success in reaching the goal. The ...
In recent decades “graphs and other mathematical representations have come to play an increasingl... more In recent decades “graphs and other mathematical representations have come to play an increasingly important role in mathematical activities in schools ” (Monk, 2003). Graphs are commonly used in science, mathematics and social science classrooms to convey important concepts. In spite of the central role of graphs, students at all ages demonstrate difficulties interpreting graphs (Woolnough, 2000; Zee & McDermott, 1987). As is the case with learning to read or to write, students need to repeatedly explore, create, manipulate, and explain graphs in order to learn how to use them well (Monk, 2003). SmartGraphs Software With the clear need for helping students better understand graphs and the concepts represented in graphs (such as slope, velocity, half-life, and global warming), the Concord Consortium developed SmartGraphs under a National Science Foundation grant (DRL-0918522). SmartGraphs activities allow students to interact with graphs, for example by clicking on a point in a grap...
the threshold of rocket mail. ” The idea of delivering mail by rockets was a dream as early as 19... more the threshold of rocket mail. ” The idea of delivering mail by rockets was a dream as early as 1929—but, of course, it never happened. Are educators in danger of accepting ideas about transforming schools with technology that are as unlikely to happen as delivering postal mail by rocket ship? Even if you and I are not, some of our colleagues are—and their beliefs are creating unrealistic expectations affecting all of us. For example, online courses and schools are wildly popular. One book published in 2008, whose lead author is at the Harvard Business School, confidently predicted that by 2018 half of all high school courses in the United States would be taught online. 1 The book won several awards, and articles based on it appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and other publications—even though the authors seem to think that online high school courses are taught automatically by computers rather than by human teachers, which is not true! One wishes that were the only ...
From the Publisher: Just a decade ago, the notion of attending high school on the Internet seemed... more From the Publisher: Just a decade ago, the notion of attending high school on the Internet seemed futuristic. Yet, today, thousands of students are doing just that. This authoritative volume is the first to provide a thorough, detailed account of the virtual high school. Based on a 5-year study conducted by experienced researchers at SRI International, this book answers such questions as: What is the difference between an online and a face-to-face classroom? What is it like to take, or to teach, an online course? Are online courses effective? What are the problems with its use? Will this new technology change the way teaching and learning is done?
Many governmental entities—countries, states, and regions—are studying the possibility of stimula... more Many governmental entities—countries, states, and regions—are studying the possibility of stimulating educational gains and economic development by supplying every student and teacher with a personal, portable computer. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort led by Nicholas Negroponte has popularized this idea and has generated increased appreciation that some such technology is certain to be available and widely affordable, whether it is the OLPC computer, Intel’s ClassmatePC, regular laptops, cellphones, or some unforeseen innovation. This White Paper deals with three issues that governments need to address in order to realize educational gains in science and mathematics education from one-computer-per-child initiatives: teacher professional development, instructional materials, and research, as each pertains to 1:1 computing.
This report examines the history of the United States Federal Government support for education te... more This report examines the history of the United States Federal Government support for education technology research and development. The report identifies funding level for several civilian and military Federal agencies over time period, nature of programs and projects supported, six case studies of illustrative R&D program, and factors policy recommendations.
The Concord Consortium is developing software for elementary school science based on principles o... more The Concord Consortium is developing software for elementary school science based on principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The goal is to help teachers meet each student's needs, including students with learning disabilities, English language learners, and others. The UDL software we have developed includes a variety of features to make the curriculum more accessible, including: Smart Graphs and Smart Models, text-to-speech, a digital glossary, scaffolded assistance, automated "coaches," and stories. Preliminary data are reported showing the frequency of use of some of these features as well as teachers' and students' opinions about them.
The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer network-based courses ta... more The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer network-based courses taught by consortium teachers for students in participating schools. Each school contributes at least one teacher who teaches a VHS course online, typically in place of teaching a section of a regular course at the school. In the VHS model, the school also provides a site coordinator who handles administrative matters and supervises local students enrolled in VHS courses. The VHS teachers, with the help of experts, design netcourses to be offered over the Internet, using the LearningSpace software. Each school in the consortium can enroll 20 students in these netcourses for each section of a teacher's time (i.e., one netcourse) that it contributes to the pool. The quality of the course offerings is controlled, in part, by requiring each VHS teacher to successfully complete a graduate-level netcourse (called the Teachers Learning Conference) on the design and development of network-bas...
Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the a... more Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.
The coronavirus pandemic vividly illuminates deficiencies of the Next Generation Science Standard... more The coronavirus pandemic vividly illuminates deficiencies of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The NGSS does not mention immunization, antibodies, vaccines, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nor do they ask students to investigate a topic outside the standards or read a science-related book or article. The stated goal of the standards is to prepare students for college and careers, which means that they do not prioritize how science connects to societal or personal concerns of every adult, even those who do not pursue science in higher education or their careers. Andrew Zucker and Pendred Noyce suggest several approaches to improve the NGSS.
Arlington, VA: SRI International. Retrieved July, Nov 1, 1999
The move to the new campus, AHS 2000, is scheduled for this summer, and the 1999-2000 school year... more The move to the new campus, AHS 2000, is scheduled for this summer, and the 1999-2000 school year will open there. Every classroom will have 48 Internet drops, the school will issue laptops to students for approximately 14 “laptop-saturated classes,” and the local community college will co-locate specific courses with the high school. In addition, AHS will offer for credit to its students approximately 100 Web-based courses that other accredited colleges administer. VHS is only one of many distance learning courses in the AHS ...
Arlington, VA: SRI International. Retrieved July, Oct 1, 1998
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer networ... more EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Virtual High School (VHS) is a consortium of high schools that offer networkbased courses taught by consortium teachers for students in consortium schools. Each school contributes at least one teacher, who teaches a VHS course in place of teaching a section of a regular course at the school. The school also provides a site coordinator who handles administrative matters and supervises local students enrolled in VHS courses. The VHS teachers, with the help of experts, design and offer netcourses ...
In Transforming Schools with Technology, Andrew Zucker identifies major concerns facing education... more In Transforming Schools with Technology, Andrew Zucker identifies major concerns facing education today, frames related transformational goals, and discusses and provides examples of how today's technologies can contribute to success in reaching the goal. The ...
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