The Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry Web site is a wonderful tool that can engage student interest in learning, and orchestrate and individualize instruction. The Web site features simulations that articulate with two of the supplement’s lessons. To access the Web site, type the following URL into your browser: http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/inquiry/teacher. Click on the link to a specific lesson under Web Portion of Student Activities.
The Web site can be accessed from Apple Macintosh and IBM-compatible personal computers. The recommended hardware and software requirements for using the Web site are listed in the following table. Although your computer configuration may differ from those listed, the Web site may still be functional on your computer. The most important item in this list is the browser.
|CPU/processor (PC Intel, Mac)||Pentium III, 600 MHz; or Mac G4|
|Operating system (DOS/Windows, Mac OS)||Windows 2000 or higher; Mac OS 9 or newer|
|System memory (RAM)||256 MB or more|
|Screen setting||1024 × 768 pixels, 32 bit color|
|Browser||Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or Netscape Communicator 7.1|
|Free hard-drive space||10 MB|
|Connection speed||High speed (cable, DSL, or T1)|
|*For users of screen-reader software, a multichannel sound card such as Sound Blaster® Live!™ is recommended.|
Before you use the Web site, or any other piece of instructional software in your classroom, it is valuable to identify the benefits you expect the technology to provide. Well-designed instructional multimedia software can
Ideal use of the Web site requires one computer for each student team. However, if you have only one computer available in the classroom, you can still use the Web site. For example, you can use a projection system to display the monitor image for the whole class to see. Giving selected students in the class the opportunity to manipulate the Web activities in response to suggestions from the class can give students some of the same autonomy in their learning that they can gain from working in small teams. Alternatively, you can rotate student teams through the single computer station. If you do not have the facilities for using the Web site with your students, you can use the print-based alternatives provided for the Lesson 3 and 4 activities.
We designed many of the activities to be done by teams of students working together. Although individual students working alone can complete the activities, this strategy does not stimulate the types of student-student interactions that are part of active, collaborative, inquiry-based learning. Therefore, we recommend that you organize collaborative teams of two to four students each, depending on the number of computers available. Students in groups larger than four often have difficulty organizing the student-computer interactions equitably, leading to one or two students’ assuming primary responsibility for the computer-based work. Although large groups can be efficient, they do not allow all the students to experience the in-depth discovery and analysis that the Web site was designed to stimulate. Team members not involved directly may become bored or disinterested.
We recommend that you keep your students in the same collaborative teams for all the activities in the lessons. This will allow each team to develop a shared experience with the Web site and with the ideas and issues that the activities present. A shared experience will enhance your students’ perceptions of the lessons as a conceptual whole.
If your student-to-computer ratio is greater than four to one, you will need to change the way you teach the module from the instructions in the lessons. For example, if you have only one computer available, you may want students to complete the Web-based work over an extended time period. You can do this in several ways. The most practical way is to use your computer as a center along with several other centers at which students complete other activities. In this approach, students rotate through the computer center, eventually completing the Web-based work that you have assigned.
A second way to structure the lessons if you have only one computer available is to use a projection system to display the desktop screen for the whole class to view. Giving selected students in the class the opportunity to manipulate the Web activities in response to suggestions from the class can give students some of the same autonomy in their learning they would have gained from working in small teams.
The Office of Science Education (OSE) is committed to providing access to the Curriculum Supplement Series for individuals with disabilities, including members of the public and federal employees. To meet this commitment, we will comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities who are members of the public seeking these materials will have access to and use of information and data that are comparable to those provided to members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities. The online versions of this series have been prepared to comply with Section 508.
If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader or a screen reader) and the format of any materials on our Web site interferes with your ability to access the information, please let us know. To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of the problem, the format in which you would like to receive the material, the Web address of the requested material, and your contact information.
Contact us at
Curriculum Supplement Series
Office of Science Education
National Institutes of Health
6100 Executive Blvd., Suite 3E01 MSC 7520
Bethesda, MD 20892-7520
|Lesson, activity||For students with hearing impairment||For students with sight impairment|
|Lesson 3, Activities 1, 2, and 3||No special considerations are required.||
Students using screen-magnification or screen-reading software can choose an alternate, text-based version of the activity. The content of the two versions of the activity is equivalent.
The “Progress Map” at the bottom of each page keeps track of the student’s progress. If the student closes the activity and returns to it later, the activity will resume where the student left it. The last page of the activity provides a summary of all the student’s answers. The student can use the Progress Map to return to any page and edit his or her responses.
The computer the students use must be connected to the Internet.
Supervision is recommended.
|Lesson 4, Activity 1||No special considerations are required.||Same as Lesson 3, Activities 1, 2, and 3.|