Learning Science Online
Principal Investigator: Jodi Asbell-Clarke and Elizabeth Rowe
Topics: Earth and Space Sciences, Physical Science, Biological Science
Grade Levels: Adult/Post-Secondary
Online education is a rapidly growing industry that is well-suited to many teachers’ lifestyles and also offers interesting new opportunities for teaching and learning science. Teachers take these courses not only to improve their content knowledge, but also for professional certification and advancement, which is becoming an increasingly important aspect of a teaching career. The growing role of online learning environments in science teacher professional development highlights the lack of large-scale studies of teaching and learning in these environment. The Learning Science Online project studied 40 online science courses for teachers to ask:
- Who are the students and instructors in online science courses for teachers?
- What does science teaching and learning look like in these courses?
- What types of course design, instructional methods, and communication patterns correlate with positive learning outcomes for students?
In November 2006, LSO hosted a two-day conference to share preliminary findings with LSO program representatives as well as advisors to LSO study.
Download: PDF of the Conference report
Download: PDF of the full report
Download: PDF of the executive summary
