Socioscientific Conceptual Change in an Online Problem-Based Learning Scenario

• In Event: 61.086 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 61.086-7 - School Culture, Socialization, and Climate Influences on Learning Environments

Abstract

This study examines students' conceptual change around a socio-scientific issue during an online, problem-based learning simulation (GlobalEd 2). In an analysis of essays that students (N = 343) wrote before and after the simulation, we discovered that the simulation is effective in fostering conceptual change toward a better understanding of the global water crisis. Secondary findings indicate that there may, however, be an instructional value to having students write an argumentative essay from the opposition's point of view.

Authors

• Lisa J. Lynn, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Kimberly A. Lawless, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Scott W. Brown, University of Connecticut

• Kamila Brodowinska Bruscianelli, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Jeremy Riel, University of Illinois at Chicago