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Design
Principles
EventScope Helps
Students Learn
EventScope Helps
Teachers Teach
Pilot Testing and
Refinement Process
Assessing Knowledge,
Understanding, and Skills
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What We Do
EventScope
is a three-dimensional game-like computer interface
that allows students to virtually explore remote
places like Mars and other planets. Students
assume the roles of space scientists in the
exploration of these locations from their own
classrooms.
EventScope builds on Big Signal 2000, a web-based
educational tool that gave students hands-on
experience of the NASA/CMU Robotic Search for
Antarctic Meteorites. When the Nomad Rover became
the first robot ever to discover a meteorite
without human intervention, students at five
Pennsylvania middle schools were right there
with it. The Big Signal 2000 project took students
on a virtual visit to Antarctica to study planetary
geology along with Nomad at www.bigsignal.net.
Articles in the New York Times, New Scientist,
CNN.com, MS-NBC.com, and other sources profiled
the project.
With EventScope, students use real-world problem-solving
skills to enhance their understanding of scientific
inquiry, the Solar System, Earth and planetary
geology, the use of computers in scientific
exploration, robotics, and the role of science
in society. By bringing cutting-edge technology
into the classroom, this project expands students'
awareness of science on three crucial levels:
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Science
as a career open to everyone;
Science as a process of intellectual exploration
combining discovery, logic, imagination,
and debate;
and Science as a body of knowledge constructed
by an inquiring community and its tools. |
The
exploration of faraway places will lead the
students to better understand their immediate
surroundings and their own roles in scientific
endeavors.
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