This is the publisher's version, also found at http://www.jstor.org/stable/444823

Ellis, James D.

Spain, James D.

English

KU ScholarWorks

Computer Center James D. Spain Department Editor The BSCS and Educational Computing in the Sciences James D. Ellis Guest Editor The Biological Sciences Curriculum S t u d y ( B S C S ) is a n o t - f o r - p r o f i t {501(c)(3)} educational research and development institution whose pur-pose is the advancement of scientific l i teracy and e d u c a t i o n in the life sciences. During the past 27 years, the BSCS has virtually revolutionized the teaching of biology by developing ed-ucational materials used by more than 50 percent of the school districts in the United States, and in more than 60 countries in adaptations in 25 lan-guages. The BSCS has developed al-most 700 pieces of educational mate-rials, including textbooks, laboratory manuals , subject-specific modules , films, documentaries for public televi-sion, and more recently, materials for e d u c a t i o n a l c o m p u t i n g in t h e sciences. The BSCS has undertaken study of the uses of microcomputers in science teaching; already several projects in educational computing in the sciences are either underway or in the plan-ning stages. There are many barriers to achieving the potential benefits of educational computing. Those barriers are found within the system of educa-tional computing detailed by Crovello (1983)—people, software and hard-ware. People Problems T e a c h e r s , a d m i n i s t r a t o r s a n d trainers pose barriers to educational computing in the sciences. Science teachers as a whole are interested in learning more about educational com-puting; however, fewer than 20 per-cent indicate they have had training in this area. The teacher is the key to im-plementing any approach to instruc-tion; therefore, until the majority of teachers are well prepared in the re-quired knowledge and skills , un-trained teachers constitute a major barrier to educat ional comput ing. Leadership is needed also to ensure the success of educational computing. School principals are acknowledged leaders of educational change; they must be better informed about their role in promoting educational com-puting and accept their responsibility to encourage its implementation. H o w e v e r , for educat iona l com-puting to increase in the schools, a new type of leadership is needed. A cadre of well qualified trainers is es-sential to provide the leadership for successful implementation of educa-tional computing. Solutions A large-scale program for training the key people in the system of educa-tional computing is needed to over-come the barriers described above. This will require several approaches tailored to the needs of the different groups of people. Workshops—con-centrated short courses from two hours to two days in duration—are an effective method to present specific knowledge and skills. Workshops can be used to help teachers who have no experience with educational com-put ing b e c o m e novice u s e r s . The BSCS offers several workshops each year to science teachers on educa-tional computing in the sciences. O t h e r t r a i n i n g m o d e l s i n c l u d e courses and institutes. Both afford teachers more time than do work-shops to study designated topic areas. The credit course is the most common, existing method of training immedi-ately available to both preservice and inservice teachers; this system is al-ready in place. Therefore, an effective s t r a t e g y for t r a i n i n g p r e s e r v i c e teachers and some inservice teachers is to add a unit on educational com-puting to existing courses for training science teachers. However, many in-service teachers need additional moti-vation to enroll in courses at institu-tions that train teachers. Therefore, the institute model is needed as a tem-porary means to meet the needs of in-terested inservice teachers. Institutes offer opportunities for greater cov-erage of the knowledge and skills; therefore, they are superior to work-shops but are limited by restrictions of time and money. Also, institutes are effective means to change teachers and administrators into knowledge-able leaders. One should not overlook self-study as a means to overcome the lack of trained teachers and administrators. Teaching is a profession and teachers and administrators have an obligation to keep current with new approaches and theories. Most of the present ex-perts in educational computing have b e e n s e l f - t a u g h t . T h e g r e a t e s t problem with self-study, however, is gaining access to materials that pro-vide the necessary knowledge and skills. We need materials on educational computing to train teachers and ad-ministrators. There is a need not only for dissemination of information to practicing teachers, but also for a cur-riculum on educational computing in the sciences to assist instructors of-f e r i n g p r e s e r v i c e a n d i n s e r v i c e training. Even among courses offered at inst i tut ions of teacher training, there is little consistency in objectives and instructors may be ill-prepared because the subject is so new. To provide trainers and training programs for science teachers, the BSCS and The Colorado College, with support from the National Science Foundation, are developing a curric-ulum for training science teachers (all grade levels and all science disci-plines) to use the computer for educa-James D. Ellis is project director (with P. Kuerbis) for ENLIST Micros at the Biolog-ical Sciences Curriculum Study, Colorado Springs, CO 80903. ENLIST Micros is an NSF supported project to design materials to ENcourage L/teracy of Science Teachers in the use of Microcomputers in science teaching. Ellis is also director of the BSCS School Health Education Project (funded by the Gates and Piton Foundations). He holds a B .A. , M.A. and Ph.D. in curric-ulum and instruction from the Univ. of Kansas. His teaching experience includes positions in a middle school as well as at the Univ. of Kansas , Univ. of Texas at Austin, and the Univ. of Colorado at Colo-rado Springs. He currently serves as re-gional director of the Colorado Biology Teachers Association. COMPUTER CENTER 123 tional purposes. This project, titled ENLIST Micros, is developing a text, videotapes, slide-tapes and software to be used by trainers in a variety of settings (workshops, institutes and courses) with either preservice or in-service teachers. Those materials are being field tested during the fall of 1985 and will be evaluated and revised during the spring and summer of 1986. The revised materials will be distributed by a commercia l pub-lisher. We expect that those materials will help alleviate the shortage of op-portunities for training in educational computing. Another approach to the problem of training people involved in educa-tional computing in the sciences is to disseminate information to help those people increase and improve their use of computers on their own. Informa-tion dissemination is important to all potential and experienced users as a means to keep current and is an im-portant adjunct to the other training approaches that require personal con-tact with an instructor. The BSCS staff has a primary re-sponsibility to disseminate informa-tion on all research and development projects conducted by the BSCS, and often publishes position statements resulting from the study of important educational issues. Articles and re-ports by BSCS staff on educational computing in the sciences have been published in various journals, mono-graphs, books and newsletters. In ad-dition, the BSCS newsle t ter , pub-lished semi-annually, is used to publi-cize new projects and activities. The newsletter is available upon request from the BSCS. Software Problems There are two general problems with software; first, for many applica-tions, there is too little software of good quality; second, there is inade-quate use of important applications. You can find a great deal of software for certain applications such as drill-and-practice programs for math or s i m u l a t i o n s p r o g r a m s of g e n e t i c crosses for biology. However, a re-view of available programs soon re-veals that when considering a matrix of topic areas in science and types of software (drill and practice, simula-tion, tutorial, microcomputer-based laboratory, games) most of the cells of the matrix would be empty or have few entries. There is a conspicuous abundance of drill-and-practice pro-grams and a dear th of o t h e r ap-proaches. More recently, however, simulation programs are becoming more numerous. The problem is not that any particular type of software is inherently bad; it is that drill-and-practice programs offer the lowest level of cognitive learning. Although there may be a place for recall of fac-tual information in science education, the emphasis should be on higher-level skills such as problem solving. The other major problem with soft-ware is inadequate use. The most im-portant use of the computer is as a tool to assist in organizing and ma-nipulating information; however , many science teachers are not aware of how the computer can assist in the management of instruction. The use of word processors to create letters, lesson plans, laboratory activities and reports is an invaluable timesaver. Database programs can be used to organize grades, inventories of equip-ment, collections of specimens (botan-ical, zoological, geological), and in-structional activities according to pre-specified traits and then to print the results as a report. Large databases can be accessed via a microcomputer to research a variety of subjects in-cluding educational computing, bi-ology and educational research. Solutions The solutions seem obvious: de-velop more quality software in all areas of science and encourage science teachers to use the computer as a tool to manage instruction. The lack of quality software is a difficult problem to overcome. Ideally, the free-market system would drive the development of all of the needed software. How-ever, the cost of development is so great and the risk of inadequate return so g r e a t that few p u b l i s h e r s are willing to undertake more than the simplest applications such as drill and practice. Methods are available to alleviate the software problem. In some re-spects, the problem with software does not lie entirely with the quality or quantity of software, it lies with the lack of congruence between the soft-ware and the objectives of extant cur-ricula. Even where software exists, there is difficulty locating the software available for a given set of objectives. The solution to that problem is to es-tablish a national clearinghouse for bi-ology software that identifies, clas-sifies and reviews all software per-taining to biology educat ion. The clearinghouse could review curricula and key software to the objectives of those curr icula . That would help teachers select software and would also make apparent to software devel-opers where there are or are not needs for additional software. Here is an op-portunity for an agency like the BSCS to play an important role in encour-aging the use of microcomputers in science teaching. Another solution to the lack of com-patibility between software and cur-ricula is to begin projects that coordi-nate the development of software with the objectives of extant and new curricula; this approach is already un-derway. Several textbook publishers are developing or planning to develop " textware"—software that is devel-oped to support activities from a spe-cific textbook. Curriculum develop-ment projects now planned by the BSCS include development of soft-ware as an integral component of the curriculum. More innovative plans by some educators include the develop-ment of curricula that have educa-tional computing as the focal point of instruction. Whatever the approach, we must give greater at tention to using the limited resources available to develop educational computing ma-terials as effectively as possible. Science teachers can help by collec-tively demanding specific types of software for particular topic areas. If a publ i sher can reduce the risk by knowing the demand is high, then many would be willing to develop that specific software. Until the market can successfully drive the development of software, additional support from public and private foundations will be needed to develop software in thin market areas and where the demand has not yet been established. Let's en-courage foundations to support inno-vation that is not feasible for commer-cial agencies to undertake. It is likely that the second problem with sof tware , that is , barriers to us ing the c o m p u t e r as a tool to manage instruction, will gradually be overcome. Most teachers who acquire computers eventual ly learn to use word processors or databases without formal instruction. However, the time it takes to master such uses is great, and methods to facilitate learning are needed. Including word processing as a course in the professional training sequence of teachers may not be the best approach because word pro-cessing may be too basic of a skill to warrant college credit (just as typing is a skill learned outside of professional training). Developing independent-study guides for different applications of the computer in managing instruc-tion might be a better approach. 124 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 48, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1986 Hardware Problems There are two major problems with hardware: the inadequate numbers of c o m p u t e r s available to realize the po-tential of educational computing in the sciences and the lack of compati-bility be tween different brands of computers. The problem of numbers s e e m s to be so lv ing i tself as the n u m b e r of c o m p u t e r s in schools grows exponentially. As computers continue to decline rapidly in cost, more will be available in schools. The problem with compatibility is a greater concern than quanti ty . At present, the vast majority of educa-tional software in science will operate only on the Apple II systems. Apple II systems are also the most common computers in the schools. Teachers using systems other than the Apple II find a much greater shortage of educa-tional software appropriate to science. The fact that most software packages have not been adapted for more than one system further limits the quantity of so f tware avai lable to any o n e teacher. The problem of hardware compati-bility extends beyond software and in-cludes the problem of connecting pe-ripheral devices (printers, modems, laboratory instruments) to a computer system. At present, it is difficult to use a printer to print graphics because dif-ferent printers have different styles of printing graphics. Solutions The problems with hardware will be even harder to solve than those with software. The educational market for hardware is relatively small compared to the home market; therefore, the de-velopment of hardware is geared to the home market. Since the problems of hardware compatibility are not as great for owners in the home market, it is unlikely that changes will occur rapidly. However, it seems reasonable to expect that systems will become more compatible within the next de-cade. State and federal support is being used to obtain microcomputers for schools. Agencies like the BSCS can encourage schools to give careful consideration to the availability of software before selecting a particular brand of computer. Where Do W e G o From Here? Educational computing, even with its rapid state of growth and change, offers many opportunities to science teachers to improve their planning and delivering of instruction. Caution is warranted for the large purchase of hardware and software because most will become outdated in a few years. However, an application that is cost-effective now will remain so in the fu-ture. There fore , the BSCS recom-mends that science teachers acquire at least one computer system and that they use it first to help manage in-struction, second to help students learn (data analysis, data acquisition and data processing), and third to Jim Stewart Department Editor It has been some time since we have actually looked at science education research in which biology is the con-tent. This month's articles, then, will all have a biology focus. The first article appeared in the Oc-tober issue of Science Education. The paper, " S t u d e n t s ' Alternative Con-ceptions of the Human Circulatory System: A Cross Age Study," won for its authors, Mary Arnaudin and Joel Mintzes, one of four Awards of Merit for papers submitted to Science Educa-tion. The awards are: "To celebrate . . . important contributions to the fu-ture of science education. . . . " Arnaudin, M. & Mintzes, J . (1985). Students' alternative conceptions of the human circulatory system: A cross age study. Science Education, 69(5), 721-733. The first author's address is Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Wil-mington, Wilmington, North Caro-lina. The authors set out to construct a "conceptual inventory" of student conceptions of selected aspects of the c i rculatory s y s t e m : s t ructure and function of blood; structure and func-tion of the heart; the circulatory pat-tern; circulatory respiratory relation-ships; and closed circulation. The stu-dents they studied were 5th and 8th graders, high school sophomores, col-lege freshman nonbiology majors and college freshmen who were biology majors. The authors used a combina-tion of concept mapping exercises, in-terviews and multiple choice tests to gather data. Before describing specific results, it is worth noting one of the general provide instruction that can be pro-vided more effectively by the com-puter than by traditional methods (re-mediation for basic skill and knowl-edge and simulation of models that can't be accomplished otherwise). Reference Crovello, T.J. (1983). Educational com-puting systems: The Compeace guide to evaluation of their hardware, software, and people. Compeace, Box 554, Notre Dame, IN 46556. claims that they make: "In a number of instances, the relative frequencies of alternative conceptions common to elementary school students remained stable at the secondary and college levels ." The authors argue that this conclusion fits squarely within the claim of other alternative conceptions of researchers, that student alternate conceptions tend to be very resistant to change. Specifically, it was found that: 1. Although the dominant view of 5th graders that blood is a red liquid diminished by 8th grade, it was nonetheless held by about 20 percent of the 8th and 10th grade students. Two alternate views, each of which were held by 10 percent of 5th graders (blood is cells suspended in red liquid or red cells without inter-cellular fluid), actually increased in older students. About 30 per-cent of college freshman biology majors held each of these views. 2. The function of blood for ele-mentary school s tudents was very general (it keeps us alive); the percentage holding this view dropped among older students but might still be considered Research Reviews Jim Stewart edits this ABT de-partment. He is an associate pro-fessor in the Science Education area of the School of Education, De-partment of Curriculum and In-struction at the University of Wis-consin-Madison , Madison , WI 53706. Stewart is involved in re-search on learning and problem solving in genetics. He is also re-searching the use of microcompu-ters in biology, particularly in rela-tion to genetics, at the high school and university levels. COMPUTER CENTER/RESEARCH REVIEWS 125 

The BSCS and Educational Computing in the Sciences

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The BSCS and Educational Computing in the Sciences

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