EcoMUVE: Immersive Simulations That Prepare Students for Inquiry Learning in Real-World Ecosystems

• In Event: 63.031 - Connecting Virtual Tools and Physical Activities to Enhance Science Learning

Abstract

Objective
Digital tools support conceptual understanding of scientific phenomena, but fewer studies have explored their utility for learning and engaging in scientific practices (de Jong, Linn & Zacharia, 2013). We explore a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) used in combination with real-world field trips for supporting student implementation of scientific practices in ecosystems science.

Theoretical Framework
Engaging students in authentic inquiry in the classroom is challenging due to difficulties in representing the open-ended nature and complexity of real investigations (de Jong et al. 2013; NAP, 2005). A number of studies suggest that virtual laboratories and simulations can help with conceptual understanding by reducing the complexity of the problem space, and reducing cognitive load, but other work suggests that activities presented in class can misrepresent the cognitive processes involved in authentic scientific inquiry (Chinn and Malhotra 2002, Toth, Morrow & Ludvico 2009).

Field settings provide an opportunity for students to practice their scientific inquiry skills in a truly open-ended problem space (Hamilton-Ekeke 2007; DeWitt and Storksdieck 2008). Yet, various dimensions of field trip experiences affect students’ ability to productively engage in inquiry-based learning activities (DeWitt and Storksdieck, 2008; Falk, 1983; Orion and Hofstein, 1994).

Intervention and Methods
EcoMUVE is a middle school curriculum that uses a computer-based multi-user virtual environment with features similar to a real pond environment (Figure 1), and provides scaffolding for the knowledge and practices associated with inquiry.

This quasi-experimental study involved four teachers and six classes of 6th graders (N = 96). Half of the classes worked with the EcoMUVE Pond environment before going on a pond field trip (EM), and the others attended a field trip before participating in EcoMUVE Pond (FT). Each 3-hour field trip was videotaped and audio-recorded. A post field-trip survey, consisting of open-ended and Likert-type questions, measured students’ inquiry skills and understanding of ecosystems science and was completed shortly after returning to the classroom. Open-ended responses were coded for specific inquiry skills including: making observations, using tools to extend the senses, and using evidence-based reasoning (NRC, 2011). One-way ANOVA was used to assess differences among groups.

Findings
Mean scores on the post-survey were significantly higher for students in the EM treatment (mean_EM = 5.2 ± 2.1, mean_FT = 4.2 ± 2.3, p = 0.002), but there was no significant difference in ‘using tools to extend the senses’. Analyses of open-ended responses indicate EM students were primed to make observations (mean_EM = 1.7 ± 0.17, mean_FT = 0.95 ± 0.13, p-value = 0.03). Initial summaries suggest that students in the EM treatment provided richer evidence-based explanations for their conclusions about the health of the pond, for example “I think it was healthy because the ph was 5-7 and that is healthy and there was 4ppm oxygen.” Further analysis of this theme will be presented in the final paper.

Significance
Our research supports the idea that MUVE technologies used in the classroom prior to real-world field trips may guide student inquiry activities and learning of complex ecosystem concepts and practices.

Authors

• Amy M. Kamarainen, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Shari J. Metcalf, Harvard University

• Tina A. Grotzer, Harvard University

• Christopher J. Dede, Harvard University