seminar
Knowledge Integration and Global Climate Change
Description:
Students often develop fragmented and contradictory ideas about scientific phenomena from their varied experiences. The knowledge integration framework has successfully guided the design of curriculum, assessment, and professional development to build on these diverse ideas and promote coherent understanding. For example, students often explain that burning fossil fuel, ozone, littering, and cows contribute to climate change. This talk reports on the design and impact of a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) unit about Global Climate Change. The unit takes advantage of dynamic visualizations, concept maps, and graphs to help students explore the topic and develop coherent ideas about complex scientific phenomena.
Marcia C. Linn is Professor of Development and Cognition, specializing in science and technology in the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of the National Academy of Education and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science. She has served as President of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, Chair of the AAAS Education Section, and on the boards of the AAAS, the Educational Testing Service Graduate Record Examination, the McDonnell Foundation Cognitive Studies in Education Practice, and the National Science Foundation Education and Human Resources Directorate. Awards include the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Award for Lifelong Distinguished Contributions to Science Education, the American Educational Research Association Willystine Goodsell Award, and the Council of Scientific Society Presidents first award for Excellence in Educational Research.
Linn earned her Ph. D. at Stanford University where she worked with Lee Cronbach. She spent a year in Geneva working with Jean Piaget, a year in Israel as a Fulbright Professor, and a year in London at University College. She has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences three times. Her books include Computers, Teachers, Peers (2000), Internet Environments for Science Education (2004), Designing Coherent Science Education (2008), WISE Science (2009), and Science Teaching and Learning: Taking Advantage of Technology to Promote Knowledge Integration (2011). She chairs the Technology, Education—Connections (TEC) series for Teachers College Press.