“Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit

In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called DeepTree that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization technique to display a phylogenetic tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. After describing our design, we present a study involving pairs of children interacting with DeepTree in two natural history museums. Our analysis focuses on two questions. First, how do dyads negotiate their moment-to-moment exploration of the exhibit? Second, how do dyads develop and negotiate their understanding of evolutionary concepts? In order to address these questions we present an analytical framework that describes dyads’ exploration along two dimensions: coordination and target of action. This framework reveals four distinct patterns of interaction, which, we argue, are relevant for similar interactive designs. We conclude with a discussion of the role of design in helping visitors make sense of interactive experiences involving the visualization of large scientific datasets

ESTIMATING THE EFFECTS OF SHORELINE CHANGE ON PROPERTY VALUES IN SANDWICH, MA USING A HEDONIC REGRESSION MODEL

Shoreline erosion poses a destructive threat to many densely developed coastal areas. This project uses a hedonic regression model to estimate whether or not the risks posed by shoreline change significantly influence property values in Sandwich, MA. Sandwich, MA is a historic town located on the inner reaches of Cape Cod with approximately 7.9 miles of Cape Cod Bay shoreline. Two sets of independent variables were used: 1) structural characteristics describing the physical qualities of a home, and 2) environmental characteristics measuring the risk posed to coastal properties by shoreline erosion. Results show that six of seven environmental variables are significant, including the primary variable of interest, Geotime. These results are compared to Atlantic region results published by The Heinz Center in 2000. Recommendations are made on opportunities to extend and improve the model for use in the future

Balancing broad ideas with context:an evaluation of student accuracy indescribing ecosystem processesafter a system-level intervention

Promoting student understanding of ecosystem processes is critical to biological education. Yet, teaching complexlife systems can be difficult because systems are dynamic and often behave in a non-linear manner. In thispaper, we discuss assessment results from a middle school classroom intervention in which a conceptual representationframework is embedded in a suite of technology tools. We use both hand-drawn models and openendedwritten responses to evaluate student understanding. While we speculated that our intervention wouldhelp students use ecosystem mechanisms to describe broader processes, we found instead that students tended toexpress constructs in isolation (as opposed to a unified picture of ecosystem processes). In addition, studentsprovided greater elaboration of ideas mostly when specifically prompted. Specific prompts also tended to producemore accurate representations of the ecosystem processes our curriculum covered. Our findings haveallowed us to refine our intervention to better translate these critical concepts, and how they are interrelated,to young learners. As such, these findings have important implications for encouraging broader ecosystemthinking in K-12 classrooms