A Virtual Exploratorium to Support Inquiry-based Learning in Geoscience Courses

Numerous national documents detail concerns about science education and recommend that it become more inquiry-based, focus on fundamental principles, and give students the opportunity to experience "doing science." A new NSF/CCLI funded project, the Virtual Exploratorium, is being launched to address these concerns about scientific literacy, the state of undergraduate science education, and the gap between scientific practice and education. It is an inquiry-based learning environment to foster deeper understanding through scientific exploration.

Embedded in the Virtual Exploratorium are fundamental geoscience principles, building blocks, and processes that will address the what and the why of geoscience phenomena. There will be learner-centered scientific modeling and visualization tools, discovery-based curricular elements that use these tools, a series of data sets of relevant atmospheric phenomena, and a virtual encyclopedia of basic scientific concepts. This effort will involve the development and adaptation of advanced scientific modeling and visualization capabilities that utilize rapidly evolving desktop computing capabilities and the World Wide Web (WWW).

The target audience for the Exploratorium is students enrolled in introductory geoscience survey courses. The concepts for the Exploratorium were developed by a unique team of experts in cognition, learning theory, and science education; in advanced visualization and numerical modeling; and in evaluation and assessment. PAGE, will provide the national focal point for the effort, gathering input and seeking further involvement of the geoscience community.