Internet Environments for Science Education, Marcia C. Linn, Elizabeth A. Davis, and Philip Bell. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004, 412 pages, softcover: $39.39; hardcover: $89.95.
As a mathematician and mathematics educator, I was somewhat surprised when a colleague asked if I would be interested in reviewing a collection of essays centered on important issues related to science education. Though my administrative responsibilities at Western Governors University include coordinating the science education programs, and while it is the case that I am interested in science education as it relates to mathematics education, it seemed at first to me that others might be more academically equipped to do this work. However, after an initial reading of this outstanding book, I found that the power of this work is its applicability to fields outside of science education while providing tremendous power for those actively involved in science education.
In this collection, Linn (and her colleagues) provide what is, in essence, a roadmap for reform in science education. With an emphasis on the relevance of science to students’ worlds and on developing in students a verve for learning independently in science, this book focuses on the following critical topics:
Inquiry and Technology
The Knowledge Integration Perspective on Learning
The Scaffolded Knowledge Integration Framework for Instruction
Design-Based Research in Education
Creating Critique Projects
Promoting Students’ Argument Construction and Collaborative Debate in the Science Classroom
Fostering Productive Collaboration Offline and Online
Hands-on Investigation in Internet Environments
The Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)
The Educational Opportunities of Contemporary Controversies in Science
Synergy Research and Knowledge Integration
Partnership Models
Specific Design Principles
Internet Environments for Science Education
For those of us involved in various models and philosophies of online and Internet education, this series of topics represent a collection of ideas and arguments that might not seem necessarily new. What, then, makes this book so compelling? Why would I recommend it strongly to all those in science education and other areas of education that intersect broadly with Internet education? It is not only that the individual topics are treated creatively and articulately; and, it is not solely that the actual topics are important ones. It is, most importantly, that the broad issues that are central to science education today are successfully addressed in these chapters in a way that makes them seem immediately critical to successful science pedagogy.
What are these issues? First, the authors describe a research program that is truly inquiry-based. Second, and most importantly, the authors push the reader to focus intensively on the conversion of students into lifelong learners of science. And it is particularly impressive that not only can non-science educators benefit amply from this work, but that education professionals involved in curriculum development, professional development, and technology in general can as well.
In the first four chapters of this book, called Part I: Starting Points, the various authors focus on a variety of important, foundational issues, including the natures of the learner and metaprinciples for the design of inquiry learning. In Part II: Curriculum Design Patterns for Knowledge Integration, the authors bring to us various sequences that are geared toward the promotion of investigation in science and activities for teachers and curriculum coordinators to encourage the design of inquiry instruction. In Part III: New Partnerships, the reader’s attention is turned to various partnership models, including WISE and Knowledge Integration Environment (KIE), with emphases on customization of curriculum, communicating the nature of science, and mentoring. Finally, in Part IV: Next Steps, the focus is on design principles and the creation of a cohort of professionals who will move the field of science education in the directions described throughout the earlier chapters.
How would I recommend that this book be used? First, I recommend it highly for all those concerned with science curriculum development. Second, I recommend it strongly for those involved in research in science education as well as those interested more generally in inquiry-based pedagogy. Professionals whose interest is primarily in the area of instructional design will find substantial parts of this book helpful. Finally, those interested in the philosophy of science education (and the philosophy of education in general) will want to focus on the second half of the book.
It is particularly appealing that each part of the book and each chapter can be read independently, thus increasing significantly the applicability of the series of essays to many users. In addition, while there are numerous authors involved, the chapters and sections flow easily, so that one is able to read several within a relatively short period of time without feeling the jolt of the movement from one style to another. In this sense, it would be easy to use this book in a variety of courses and seminars, particularly at the master’s and doctoral level.
While all chapters in this book are written quite well, there are three that are worthy of particular comment. First, Chapter 8, “Hands-on Investigation in Internet Environments: Teaching Thermal Equilibrium,” presents us with a superb example of the use of the Inter net environment in the attainment of important science concepts (in this case, thermal equilibrium). In this beautifully developed chapter, the author, Douglas Clark, presents his work on the improvement of students’ understanding of thermal equilibrium. The project, called “Probing Your Surroundings,” or simply “Probing,” uses WISE Internet software together with laboratory components and other curricular devices. The results of this project are quite impressive and promising, and they provide a blueprint for other investigative projects.
Second, Chapter 12, “Partnership Models: The Case of the Deformed Frogs,” is a terrific description of “.. .how a partnership designed, tested, and refined the integration of an innovative learning environment and curricula in the life of an urban middle school.” Written by Linda Shear, Philip Bell, and Marcia C. Linn, this skillfully crafted and organized essay presents a model for partnerships that are designed to encourage collaborative knowledge integration. The example given in this chapter is a particularly compelling one and it is presented in a way that moves the reader immediately to engage in this kind of work.
Third, Chapter 1, “Inquiry and Technology,” will be of particular interest to all those interested in Internet and online environments for science education. In this chapter, Linn, Davis, and Bell focus on the Computer as Learning Partner (CLP), WISE, and KIE. Curriculum coordinators and designers will be particularly interested in this well-written essay.
As Coordinator of the Secondary Education programs at Western Governors University, I work with faculty and curriculum in mathematics, science, and the social sciences. It is my intention to make this volume required reading for my faculty, with the science educators reading the entire book and others reading what is applicable to their particular areas of interest. My hope is that the result of this will be a renewed effort on the part of these secondary education faculty members to focus on creating environments in which inquiry-based, lifelong learning in all disciplines will have a greater chance of occurring. As we all know, it is only through the development in students of a sense of wonder at the world in which we live that we can truly develop in them a desire for productive learning. And this will only happen if new environments for education are developed in our schools of education, and schools and society in general.
