To enhance teaching and learning about Earth's climate and global climate change (GCC) in secondary science classrooms, the authors are engaged in a four-year, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop, implement, and evaluate a new four-week curriculum module grounded in the use of a data-driven, computer-based climate modeling…

In this study, a follow-up analysis of the data reported in Lin et al. ("Learn Media Technol." doi: 10.1080/17439884.2011.629660 , 2011), we investigated the relationship between student use of a virtual field trip (VFT) system and the probability of students reporting wanting to visit the national park site upon which the VFT was modeled,…

Although learning science in informal non-school environments has shown great promise in terms of increasing interest and engagement, few studies have systematically investigated and produced evidence of improved conceptual knowledge and cognitive skills. Furthermore, little is known about how digital technologies that are increasingly being used…

This paper provides examples of naturally radioactive items that are likely to be found in most communities. Additionally, there is information provided on how to acquire many of these items inexpensively. I have found that the presence of these materials in the classroom is not only useful for teaching about nuclear radiation and debunking the…

Chemical process simulation is one of the most fundamental skills that is expected from chemical engineers, yet relatively few graduates have the opportunity to learn, in depth, how a process simulator works, from programming the unit operations to the sequencing. The University of Calgary offers a "hands-on" postgraduate course in…

In this paper we explore students' engagement in a new media enhanced problem-based learning (PBL) environment and investigate the characteristics of these environments that facilitate learning. We investigated both student experiences using a new media enhanced PBL environment and the specific elements students found most supportive of their…

Describes an experimental use of computer terminals for instructional purposes in a university-level general physics course over a two-year period. Programs have been written to simulate physical problems otherwise difficult for the student to investigate. (Author/DS)

Explains the educational value of computer simulations in general and provides specific areas of computer application in teaching of chemistry, biology, and physics. Explains the application of instructional materials developed in the Chelsea Science Simulation Project. (GS)

Describes an exercise in which senior high school biology students used a computer to simulate genetic mapping. The exercise was designed to enhance the students' grasp of the concepts of linkage and crossing-over. (JR)

Presents computer simulations of diffusion, equilibria, molecular movement across a membrane, moving quanta at random between atoms, nuclear disintegration, and nuclear decay and half life. (GS)

Describes a computer simulation experiment in which physical chemistry students can determine all of the kinetic parameters of a reaction, such as order of the reaction with respect to each reagent, forward and reverse rate constants for the overall reaction, and forward and reverse activation energies. (MLH)