Layman & Krajcik, Innovations in Science and Tech Ed (1992)

The microcomputer and practical work in science laboratories

J. Layman & J. Krajcik, In D. Layton (Ed.) Innovations in Science and Technology Education, IV, UNESCO, p. 171 (1992). (html version)

Abstract: The microcomputer can now be used as a tool in the laboratory by students of all ages. The ability to connect a device (a probe) to the computer that can measure things in the real world (such as temperature, position, sound intensity, pH, light intensity and force) now allows students and teachers to acquire information about the world in a way that is new and exciting and can make a major contribution to the science conceptual development of the user. The ability of the microcomputer to transform these data into a real-time graph as the experiment progresses is a second critical contribution to conceptual development. This personally-observed information from the real world can play a major role in honoring the constructivist view of learning that suggests that each person constructs his or her personal world view. A major factor in this process is the quality of each individual's interaction with physical systems and the personal effort expended to create explanations and understandings of a variety of science concepts rendered visible by the system. When the computer plays a role in this manner, it will be identified as a Microcomputer-Based Laboratory (MBL). The combination of the equipment and the computer programs required to enable the computer to serve as a laboratory device will be called probeware. This present description contrasts sharply with the limited description of the micro-computer as a laboratory instrument in New Trends in Physics Teaching (Layman, 1984).

Teachers in today's classrooms and students currently enrolled in our colleges and universities still have limited opportunities to develop fully their own set of science concepts and rarely have an opportunity to use the microcomputer in the laboratory in support of this. An MBL based program will be described that was designed for practicing middle school teachers and recommendations will be offered for the type of commitment that has to be made in the sciences and in science education by teachers involved in training and professional development activities.

Redish, Wilson & McDaniel, Sociomedia (1992)

The CUPLE Project: A Hyper- and Multi-Media Approach to Restructuring Physics Education

E. F. Redish, J. M. Wilson & C. K. McDaniel, in Sociomedia, p. 219, E. Barrett (ed), Barrett, Cambridge: MIT Press (1992).

Abstract: The Comprehensive Unified Physics Learning Environment (CUPLE) is a project that brings together innovative uses of the computer for physics teaching into a single, multi-purpose learning environment. The status of college-level introductory physics teaching is reviewed.  In these courses, physics instructors have been forces to be satisfied with only the best students achieving significant learning.  Even those students often have to wait until later in their training to begin to learn many of the tools that are fundamental to the activities of the professional physicist.  This paper discusses how educational computer technology might be used to change this situation.  The CUPLE environment, as an example of a way to deliver the requisite computer tools, is also discussed.