NSF TEACHER ENHANCEMENT PROPOSAL

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

1. Introduction

Long term observation and research repeatedly demonstrates that educational rewards are associated with the integration of computational technologies in the secondary school educational curriculum – “New techniques and tools provide new evidence to guide inquiry and new methods to gather data, thereby contributing to the advance of science” [NRC96].  However, budgetary constraints and the limited number of teachers with extensive computational science training significantly restrict the use of this technology.  This proposal brings together a National Computational Science Education Consortium (the “Consortium”) consisting of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society (sponsors of the annual national high performance computing and networking conference now called SC), East Carolina University (ECU), Krell Institute, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), Shodor Foundation, and University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH), to help motivated high school teachers from around the country incorporate computational science into the high school science and math curriculum through a leadership model.  Specifically, this proposal is dedicated to changing the “delivered” standards-based curriculum by improving knowledge, skills, and practice, in addition to providing cross discipline professional development opportunities through the use of replacement units. Replacement units are small curriculum modules that focus exclusively on a selected subject topic and become a recommended substitute for existing text based course modules. Two national teacher cadres, consisting of 100 teachers each, will receive 180 hours each of comprehensive professional development in computational science, educational leadership principles and pedagogy through this project.  The first cadre starts with the SC2000 conference (November 2000) and the second with the SC2001 conference (November 2001).  This proposal will leverage the existing SC Conference infrastructure and the investment from the Consortium and funding from this proposal to implement this project.

2. What is Computational Science?

Rapid advances in processor speed coupled with decreasing high performance computing costs have enabled scientists to build dynamic computer models for the study of scientific phenomena and physical systems that have increasingly become focal points of further scientific exploration.  Often, this experimentation is referred to as scientific computing, computer modeling, computer simulation or computational science.  Regardless of its name, computational science provides a new scientific approach that can be readily combined with traditional scientific theory and experimentation.  This new interdisciplinary field integrates computer science, the ability to develop mathematical models, the implementation of complex computer algorithms, and the ability to graphically visualize a large amount of computer output to provide answers to questions that are difficult or impossible to determine experimentally.  This integration is exemplified in recent scientific literature that describes analyzing complex phenomena such as DNA sequencing, weather patterns, ocean flow, celestial mechanics, and hurricane track forecasting through computer modeling.  Notably, these same complex models require access to high performance computers that offer the necessary processing power, input/output, and storage to simplify the complex applications and techniques that supplement continued exploration and scientific study.

3. The Need

In July, 1997, The National Research Council’s Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (NRC CSMEE) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released a student learning report entitled, Improving Student Learning in Mathematics and Science: the Role of National Standards in State Policy. This report states:

At a time when international comparisons have renewed attention to the need for a coherent, powerful direction for science and mathematics education, it is useful to examine how state initiatives can draw from the national standards as they continue their progress in reform.

Of the areas considered most important by the report, this proposal focuses on two: (1) emphasis on comprehension, not just memorization of facts, and (2) depth of knowledge about the fundamentals of science and mathematics. Among the recommendations cited in the report and designed to achieve these goals, two were specifically relevant to this proposal: (1) develop a curriculum that is “high-quality, well-articulated, and standards-based”, and (2) ensure that teachers are well qualified and highly competent and their teaching is based in the standards. Teachers must be prepared to effectively utilize tools of the electronic world and to position their students to become increasingly competitive in the future [THO97]. In addition to the educational benefits, enormous societal benefits may be seen in the preparation of students who receive instruction in the use of advanced computational resources. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Commerce, critical information technology areas have a shortage of approximately 1.3 million workers. An excerpt from a speech by Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, U.S. Department of Commerce, highlights this need [IRV98]:

Every American must be dismayed to see the results of the Third International Math and Science Study, released in February 1998, which revealed that the math and science skills of U.S. students are lagging behind those of many foreign competitors. U.S. twelfth graders scored 19th out of 21 countries in math and 16th out of 21 countries in science. Equally alarming is our declining emphasis on graduate programs in computer-related fields. While the number of computer related jobs is increasing every year, the number of graduates in the math and science field declined sharply. Between 1985 and 1995, for example, the number of bachelor degrees awarded in computer and information science fell 42% from 42,000 to 29,000.

According to the National Science Standards [NAS95], teachers and students must become active learners and use computers for collection, analysis and display of data; teachers must introduce students to the roles of models and simulation and enable them to use functions that are constructed as models of real world problems. [NRC96] To accomplish these results, teachers must work with their colleagues to expand their knowledge about teaching science while simultaneously helping students learn about the world around them. Current teaching standards emphasize the use of long-term and short-term goals built around a curriculum that both interests and meets the needs of students. In order to accomplish these goals, a learning environment must be created in the classroom that supports inquiry-based learning and allocates time for extended research. In addition, this new technological environment must initiate communication, offer a challenge to students to take responsibility for their own learning, and involve them in creating standards for the science classroom. To meet the challenges set by the National Science Standards, we must provide a venue for teachers to be able to communicate and collaborate with each other, develop teacher networks, mentor beginning teachers, and establish a location for continued learning opportunities. "Teachers need the opportunity to become part of the larger world of professional teachers of science through participating in networks, attending conferences, and other means." [NRC96] Teachers must become continual learners who experience learning through doing in order for the knowledge to become a natural consequence of the scientific activity. In order for these practices to become ingrained in our everyday classroom and administration, teachers must be able to practice and reinforce teaching techniques that lead to a technology-based classroom [JUK98]. We will accomplish these goals through the use of computational science and an increased integration of technology into the secondary classroom environment.

4. The Approach

We will engage the significant computational science and visualization expertise that exists within the Consortium to enable students to achieve high standards in science and mathematics through visualization techniques. Moreover, the focus of the content areas will be strongly aligned with national standards in science and mathematics. This proposal is a natural outgrowth of the urgency that most secondary schools have placed on providing broader access to newer technologies in support of standards-based teaching and learning, especially in the areas of mathematics and science involving both laboratories and classrooms. To date, these technologies have been generally limited to computers, calculators, and computer software. Through this proposal, we will enable teachers and their classrooms to connect with high performance computing resources focused on the physical sciences, specifically chemistry and physics. Since these subjects offer significant conceptual abstractions to enrolled students, our proposal will provide teachers with the skills required to integrate discipline-based computational science software into the curriculum. Both teachers and students can become involved in projects that encourage them to analyze real data and to design computational models that will assist them in making real world predictions based on computer models. Active participation in "real" world learning situations and the ability to perform computer-based experiments and simulations will allow students to formulate and answer wide-ranging sets of questions. Success of student learning is, therefore, dependent upon the ability of these models to represent the world realistically.

For these reasons and because computational methodologies are increasingly being used in research and industry, students must be proficient in the use of computational approaches. To address this problem, education must undergo a drastic change in order to prepare students for entrance into the mainstream workforce of the 21st century. A necessary component in achieving this goal is the use of technology in the classroom, both as an instructional tool and as a motivator for students and teachers. It is well documented that "in the traditional science classroom, only portions of students walk away with a genuine understanding of the material, and even fewer are able to apply the concepts they have learned to events in their own lives" [PRY97]. Technology can thus be the powerful and effective bridge from the traditional classrooms to real life scientific inquiry experiences. NCTM states that it is important to "use functions that are constructed as models of real world problems" [NRC96].

Technology enables students to engage in scientific activities that model the natural phenomena, as it exists in the real world, while facilitating the internalization of these experiences by students. Moreover, the common themes in the physics and chemistry classroom in addition to traditional teaching methods often fail to motivate students to learn science or to become independent thinkers; instead these students do not see these abstract ideas as having any relevance to their future. Active engagements in project-based learning techniques provide student project ownership and aid scientific investigations leading to solutions to problems. Thus students take responsibility for their own learning. Currently, students tend to fall by the wayside due to boredom with learning facts especially when they will not use this knowledge until much later in their learning experiences. The transition from a traditional classroom to a technology-based classroom is urgent and must begin with a commitment to change on the part of the entire school community. Technology provides an avenue of change through a vast database of information for students and teachers, an audience for communication, and a panel of experts for gleaning information.

5. Brief History of National High School Computational Science Programs

Progress in addressing these critical needs through computational science originated with the SuperQuest program in 1988. Funded by ETA Systems, a high performance computing hardware vendor, this program placed a supercomputer in a high school inspiring many high performance computing organizations to create extensions of this program to attract high school teachers interested in utilizing computational science in the classroom. The purpose was two-fold: first to enhance scientific instruction and second to expand the preparation of students with advanced computational science skills. IEEE Computer Society and ACM leveraged this program by sponsoring an education component in the national Supercomputing Conferences in which SuperQuest winners presented their work at Supercomputing '90 in New York. Notably, many of the conference attendees were awed at the quality of computational science work being completed by high school students. The Alabama Supercomputer Center subsequently presented a program for teacher education at a Director's Roundtable of the same conference that highlighted similar results. The following year, at Supercomputing '91, panelists consisting of high school students and teachers discussed computational science projects for Albuquerque High School students who attended the conference's High School Day. Interestingly, high school students found computational science and the visualization of science interesting, but the teachers felt they had been left behind. While hearing about computational science was motivating, teachers needed more; they required the in-depth preparation (professional development) in computational science programs in order to better guide their students. With this input, Supercomputing '92 contained significant teacher-preparation program component. Seventy teachers applied for support to attend Supercomputing '92 and gained experience in implementing successful programs for teaching computational science in high schools. With funding from NSF and DARPA, this program provided two days of hands-on learning on computational science tools, visualization, and networking using Macs and PCs. The experience generated significant excitement among the teachers; however, the most successful teachers were those who were involved in more intensive development program that included both summer sessions and follow-up sessions. These follow-up programs included ASPIRE (Alabama Supercomputing Program to Inspire Computational Research in Education); AiS (Krell, Adventures in Supercomputing), a five year program funded by DOE in five states which emphasized schools with a large minority enrollment; Envision-It (a program funded in Minnesota involving secondary school teachers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area designed to leverage computational science as a method to enrich math and science teaching); and the Maryland Virtual High School Program (an eight year program funded by NSF). Each project emphasized a combination of modeling and graphics with science and mathematics to "do" science through simulation, modeling, and visualization, thus creating "real world experiences" designed to enhance the teaching of science through inquiry, experimentation, and theoretical analysis.

The Supercomputing Conferences, renamed the SC conferences in 1997, have continued to be a vehicle for communication between teachers involved in these programs as well as an incubator for the involvement of new teachers. This proposal leverages previous investments in computational science by the National Science Foundation, DARPA and NASA through grants to the SC Conference, partners such as the joint education, outreach and training project (EOT-PACI) from the NSF funded NCSA Alliance and the San Diego Supercomputer Center NPACI Partnership, and the successes of programs like ASPIRE, AiS, Envision-It, and the Maryland Virtual High School Program to create a national reservoir of educators who can act as role models, developers, and teachers in the application of computational science in science. These collaborations have created innovative content based on national standards in science and mathematics. This proposal will build on this history and extend the concept one step further – to create a model national computational science leadership program by utilizing the strong track record and experience of institutions that have built successful regional programs.

6. Goals and Objectives

The objective of this proposal is to build a team of high school teachers with knowledge of computational science and visualization who will become leaders in their school. The insight of a Farmville Central High School (NC) public school physics teacher, Jason Painter, was invaluable in the planning and development of this proposal. His understanding of the difficulty students face while learning abstract science concepts provided key elements to this proposal. Moreover, his participation highlighted the daunting task faced by the current generation of teachers: to develop computer, modeling, visualization and mathematical skills to complement the established expertise in their fields. This project prepares teachers to develop and use models for physics, chemistry and environmental quality as well as provides them access to the necessary computational resources. The computer models being utilized in this project are currently too computationally intensive for the desktop PC machines commonly found in high schools today. For this reason, we are making available through the Consortium access to the computing resources needed to run the models. With the current rate of technology advancement, we expect to be able to run these same models on high end desktop PCs by the end of this project. Thus we will make the models, lesson plans and course materials produced under this project available on a CD-ROM for other school systems to study and use upon completion of the project.

One important component of this proposal involves preparing teachers in the use of computational tools to transform current material to electronic forms plus add interactivity to these materials. In this manner, teachers will be able to control the content and application of the material into the curriculum [CAR92]. The goals for this project are to (1) create a cadre of computational science teacher leaders who will lead the way for others in their schools and districts, (2) explore the impact of computational science instructional modules on the depth of student understanding of the material and interest in computer applications, research and science, (3) create teaching modules based on the National Science Education Standards [NRC96] and the National Mathematics Education Standards [NCTM98] utilizing modeling, simulation, visualization and virtual reality in teaching science and mathematics, plus make these modules readily available to teachers through an on-line repository, (4) assess the impact of forming these national efforts to effect change in local school systems including determining the type of national support structure needed for success in a program of this scope, (5) investigate the importance of face-to-face visits during the school year, and (6) determine the factors required to keep teachers interested and motivated.

As part of this project, the teachers will earn up to 18 Continuing Education Units (CEU's) through 180 contact hours of instruction. One CEU is earned for every 10 hours of work and is granted by the local school system as a condition for participating in this project. The hours spent by each cadre include attending focused sessions as part of a SC Conference (5 days) totaling 40 hours of work (4 CEU's), Spring/Fall/Spring local video conferences (January-June) totaling 52 hours of work (5.2 CEU's), and a two week Summer Institute totaling 88 hours of work (8.8 CEU's) providing 180 hours of instruction translating into 18 CEU's.

7. Plan of Work

7.1 Project Plan

This project will create two teacher cadres of 100 lead teachers each. These 200 lead teachers, four from each of 50 school districts around the country, will participate in all aspects of this project. The teachers, along with their administrators, will be responsible for hosting the professional development events in their home school districts for fellow teachers and become the local resource for assisting other teachers while creating and testing new curriculum modules utilizing computational science. Each cadre will embark on a two-year intensive program that includes:

• Computational science training involving both face-to-face instructional sessions as part of the SC conferences and web cast seminars during the school year as part of the professional development program of the participating school district. Topics covered during this program include developing models for a particular scientific area, tools to implement the model plus Internet tools training, computer ethics, national science education standards (NRC96), emerging national mathematics standards (NCTM98), examples of computational science projects now underway through other NSF grants, and dissemination of tools previously developed by NSF grantees,

• Interactive participation with premier computational scientists through such programs as EOT-PACI will provide answers to questions and scientific insight

• Three hours of Internet-based technical support per week with instructional designers and support personnel to answer questions as the teachers integrate computational science into the curriculum

• Contact with invited scientists and content leaders will be drawn from the EOT-PACI group. These leaders will provide daytime and evening hours that can be utilized by the teachers to answer questions and resolve problems with the technology used as a part of this project, and

• Web-based access including moderated chat rooms to enable cadre participants to both converse on common problems and to promote information sharing of materials and ideas.

A breakdown of the responsibilities of each partnering institution to implement this proposal for each cadre is shown in Table 1.

Responsibilities for Key Personnel (hours shown are doubled if both Cadres are included)                                 Table 1

In return, each cadre participant will be required to generate a minimum of one two-week course module or replacement unit (or an equivalent combination of shorter modules) utilizing computational science methods for use in their classroom and to use a substantial portion of a module developed by another cadre member. This cross fertilization from both the developer’s viewpoint and the user’s viewpoint will promote sensitivity to ease of use considerations, presentation clarity, and content depth. The teacher will also develop an awareness plan within their home school system by the end of the SC conference and provide coordination for professional development activities involving the local leadership group within the cadres school system. Additionally, participation in web cast seminars on computational science and leadership topics and on-line intra-classroom experiences in a "live national hands-on laboratory exercise" will promote cooperation and potentially team teaching across school systems. Each teacher is also required to provide 60 hours of professional development to at least three others in their school district to utilize their skills in leadership and computational science. As each participant and/or team develops a unit of practice or replacement unit, provisions will be made to add this information to a web/video server which will be made available to any educator or educational unit. The resulting national educational computational science clearinghouse will contain software tools, lesson plans, instructional support materials, resource (people) contacts, pointers to previous NSF instructional tool grantees, and special applications made available via links to servers maintained by partnering institutions participating in this joint proposal. East Carolina University will host the national educational computational science clearinghouse and will be responsible for creating and maintaining the availability of electronic resources and links to Consortium resources.

Rather than changing the course of study for any student, the introduction of computational science into the curriculum is designed to enhance the delivery of that instruction, and thus understanding, through better examples, applications, and technology. In a recent review of science texts by AAAS, no textbook was found to be satisfactory. Conversely, AAAS did find a number of modules to be exceptional and recommended that these modules become ‘replacement units” within the normal course of study. However, while the introduction of computational science into the curriculum is straightforward, the measurement of how much science is learned as a result is seen as more problematic, because science standards vary significantly across state lines. In addition, it is difficult to pre- and post-test students who must learn the material anyway in accordance with standard courses of study. To address these issues, we will link back to established mathematics and science standards.

7.2 Teacher Selection Criteria

Teachers selected to participate in this grant will be chosen from a national pool of teachers. Traditionally, SC conferences have more teachers inquire about participation than can be accommodated, and we expect a similar response to this project. Applications for participation will be due in May, 2000, (first cadre) and May, 2001 (second cadre). School systems are to select and nominate four science and mathematics teachers, including at most one administrator. This number was chosen so that the participant teachers have local peers who can collaborate on the curriculum projects and provide peer support during the school year. The teacher selection criteria will include (1) the school district pledging to provide the support required in this proposal with a signed commitment by the principal or school administrator, (2) evaluation of a portfolio of science and/or mathematics modules developed by the teacher to determine understanding of the subject matter, the degree of hands-on learning, and clarity of presentation, (3) teaching awards/honors received, and (4) web publishing and computing expertise. This opportunity will be publicized on the SC conference web pages, included in the SC Conference Call for Participation, posted to news groups and publicized through EOT-PACI. Minorities will be strongly encouraged to apply.

7.3 SC Conferences: 2000 and 2001

SC Conference Schedule                                                                                                                                                      Table 2

The SC Conferences mark the beginning of the program for each cadre. SC2000 is the beginning for the first cadre and SC2001 the second. The purpose of attending the conference is to receive initial instruction in leadership, computational science, and pedagogy, to interact with the computational scientists attending the conference and to observe real computational science applications through the conference exhibits sponsored by universities. The schedule for the kick-off SC Conference for each cadre is given in Table 2. From 4:30-5:30, the participants will receive tours of the SC Conference research exhibit floor.

7.4 Summer Institute

The two-week Summer Institute will focus on skill building, upgrading the teacher’s computational science expertise, national board certification, development of a unit of practice, leadership seminars in preparation for sharing skills with other colleagues, and experimentation with on-site practical applications through a lecture each morning from 8:30-10:30 am for all participants. The lead scientists or content experts who will lead these sessions are specified in Table 1. From 11 am-12 noon participants will break out into groups to discuss the morning’s topics. From 1-4 pm each day, there will be a hands-on lab for each scientific area (chemistry and physics), and each person will rotate through one of the labs to be cross trained in each area. SGI has committed to provide the workstations needed for the Summer Institute as part of this proposal. The schedule for the Summer Institute is in Table 3.

Summer Institute – Refreshing and Updating Computational Science Skills                                                              Table 3

During the school year, teachers will connect via videoconferencing using Microsoft NetMeeting, or other collaboration tools that will become available over the life of the project, to share their progress with design and implementation of ideas gleaned from the SC conference and to prepare for the Summer Institute. These sessions will feature invited scientists and leaders in computational science to further support teachers in their development. Part of the dialogue will include how to more effectively teach core ideas in science that are abstract in nature. The culmination of these experiences will be attendance at the Summer Institute, which will involve an intensive two-week experience in creating the technological bridge between the curriculum and future educational technology. Invited scientists and content leaders will be drawn from EOT-PACI.

8. Application to the Secondary School Curriculum

8.1 Tools for the Teachers – an Overview of Computational Science Development Tools

The opportunity to use advanced computing tools provides students and their teachers with multiple significant connections to the skills we wish our science students to develop. Use of advanced computing tools provides students with a structured way to (1) understand the applicability of computational science as a scientific research tool, (2) investigate individual areas of study such as the structure and properties of matter, the behavior of chemical reactions, motions and forces, and energy in the earth system, (3) understand the interdisciplinary relationships between science (for example, the chemistry and physics of ozone formation) and community (how ozone pollution influences health issues, community growth and development issues, and public policy decisions), (4) develop skills in evidence-based reasoning and the ability to abstract physical evidence to fundamental processes.

In this project, teachers and students learn about computational tools and methods used by researchers; thus the proposal supports the preparation of a new generation of computational scientists. The effort will align with national standards, ensuring that high school students meet curricular requirements. The process begins with helping teachers learn to incorporate the tools of computational science through existing tutorials during the SC conferences. Scientists will be available at these conferences to guide the teachers through the use of the tools, and to assist them in applying these tools to the kinds of problem-based learning that arises in the classroom. It is recommended that the teachers meet again with the scientists and tool experts throughout the school year via videoconferences. These subsequent meetings would be used to update the teachers on their use of the tools, to review the progress in developing curriculum application, and to address scientific questions or challenges that have arisen through the curriculum development process and during the use of the materials in the classroom. Graduate students can be accessible on-line to help answer teachers’ questions throughout the year. The graduate students would also help develop tutorials to aid in understanding the use of the tools, create web portal resources, and support on-line discussion groups. At the next SC conference, a small representative group of teachers from the first cadre can review accomplishments during the previous year, and aid new participating teachers in applying the tools and materials in their classrooms.

The materials developed will be useful for high school and undergraduate education thus enabling a range from introductory to AP level materials. There will also be a cadre of teachers well experienced in applying these tools and resources, who can in turn be mentors and instructors for other teachers. In addition, the project will yield an understanding of new approaches and opportunities for teaching science that were not previously possible. In part, the experiences of the participating teachers will increase the potential for improving student learning through the use of computational resources. Internet-based tools for incorporating the "computational approach" into the curriculum are wide ranging and bring together teachers and computational scientists to locate and evaluate existing available material. In addition, CD-ROM versions of the material and programs will be available to the teachers. However, to have reasonable execution times by multiple users at one time, development of new programs and/or extension of existing programs and access to storage will be necessary. Remote platforms can also provide access to more software, for example, visualization tools (which require UNIX) or experimenting with software such as Mathematica or MatLab. These tools will be coupled with regular access to computational scientists, who can assist teachers in using the programs and material in the classroom. An understanding of the science, computational approaches (application of the approach, its validity and limitations) and the mechanisms to present the information in a school setting require a collaboration of computational scientists and teachers.

Location of the hardware for teaching material and programs can be anywhere, in theory. Quality of service issues such as number of concurrent users, local Internet access bottlenecks and response time for interactive use place crucial limits on the use of the net. It is important that local access be made available (CD-ROM installs on a local server). The drawback is updating the material. Thus a planned update (over the network) will be scheduled. In addition, teachers will develop electronic documentation (laboratory type exercises or discussion material) to guide the student. Thus, preparing the teachers in web programming, including HTML, DHTL and XML plus JAVA, will allow the teachers to exploit the power of computation for doing science with the new tool of the web. These activities will include programming for the web (Lecture material for the Web – HTML, DHTML), enhancements such as XML and animations plus interactivity with JAVA. From the perspective of an educator, the use of advanced computational tools such as air quality modeling provides multiple evaluation and assessment opportunities. The process will be model development that will consist of constructing and implementing the model, verifying the model, and visualizing the computational results.

8.2 Chemistry - Abstract Modeling of Chemical Systems using Computational Approaches

Description: The audience for this material is high school level, second through fourth year based on level of mathematical skill and scientific knowledge. The focus will be to apply abstract models of chemical systems to understand complex processes such as chemical reactions. One important feature of this computational approach is to provide a wide range of computer-based experiments to students and to explore a wider range of chemical concepts. For example, the question "What can happen if I add these chemicals together?" can be difficult and dangerous to answer. However, using computational modeling and simulation to study chemical reactions, reaction rates and reaction products can give a great deal of chemical insights. Another type of question "How do atoms make molecules?" is difficult to answer. By using computational approaches, and a fundamental description of nature called quantum mechanics, this question can be addressed. For example, how does one discuss three-dimensional motion of atoms in molecules? One approach, based on computations of the motion combined with browser technology, show the complex motions that atoms can perform. In addition, this understanding can apply to molecular biology (how chemical systems can predict biological behavior), called Qualitative Structure and Activity Relations.

Requirements: Applications to solve chemical problems are readily available and can be incorporated into the curriculum. The software covers a range of computational hardware and software requirements. Some of the reaction and kinetics codes can run on low end PC's and Macintoshes. The quantum chemistry codes need better compute resources, which can be provided via the net.

Outcomes: The major outcome will be a way to broaden the scientific investigation of chemical systems. However the use of computational science will not completely replace the experimental or the lecture component. The lecture component is absolutely necessary to build the foundation of the concepts and the links among the concepts. The concepts can be reinforced and expanded by modeling and the relation between modeling and theoretical concepts is increasingly important to science and industry. It is one method of understanding the world, not the only method.

8.3 Biochemistry Education using Biology Workbench

Description: This activity will be oriented towards the understanding and use of bioinformatics through the use of the software application, Biology Workbench, a revolutionary web-based tool for biologists. Activities focus on molecular biology in which protein and nucleic acid sequences are analyzed and compared to aid in understanding a range of biological issues such as evolutionary patterns, causes of deformations, and the impact of disease on molecular structures. Teachers will learn to use the Biology Workbench through the use of various tutorials developed by and for other teachers and faculty. The WorkBench allows biologists to search many popular protein and nucleic acid sequence databases. Database searching is integrated with access to a wide variety of analysis and modeling tools, all within a point and click interface that eliminates file format compatibility problems. Teacher activities will utilize a web-based interface to over 80 scientific databases and the NCSA Origin supercomputer systems to perform the complex searches, analyses and comparisons of the data in these databases. The complexities of these analyses require a supercomputer to allow the discovery process to be interactive. The results of the searches can be visualized using tools to view molecular structures in an interactive discovery mode. The NCSA Education Division has worked with teachers on a number of other projects and has worked to ensure that the materials adhere to standards. This effort will continue throughout this project.

Requirements: The teachers and students will need to have a recent web browser along with one of the public domain graphics packages, such as RASMOL or CHIME, loaded on their machine. All users will be able to register and gain access to the Biology Workbench on the NCSA system at no cost. Teachers should also have collaborative software on their desktop. The Biology Workbench team is now working with Syracuse to integrate Tango Interactive into the environment to support synchronous collaboration.

Outcomes: The outcomes will include biology education portals to aid teachers in the use of bioinformatics tools and resources. The portals will include tutorials developed for and by teachers to aid in learning the tools. Also included will be links to other web resources, publications, articles, and exemplary uses of the tools and resources in various classroom settings. The portal will include synchronous and asynchronous tools for communications. The existing NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) project has a formal evaluation component to aid the team in assessing the impact of bioinformatics tools on undergraduate education. The techniques and approaches developed within that program will be modified as needed and used to guide the assessment and evaluation of the teacher effort proposed here. This project leverages two-year funding from the NSF DUE program to support the Computational Biology Group at NCSA for developing curriculum for undergraduate education. The project involves the Computational Biology Group at NCSA, faculty from the College of Education at UIUC, and NCSA Education Division staff. The program has a formal formative and summative evaluation component.

8.4 Physics - Computational Physics

Description: The computational physics effort will focus on the integration of available computational science applications for physics concepts into the science classroom based on on-line computational physics instructional material (web-based lectures, Mathematica^TM notebooks and other forms) developed by OSC. This material includes applications such as chaotic orbits, magnetic properties and particle dynamics as well as web-based asynchronous lecture material covering the foundations of computational science and specific physics topics. Other material provides interactive computer experiments to develop a model, and investigate the model’s effectiveness for predicting real world behavior. For example, the prediction of motion in a collection of particles in a gravitational field as compared to the chaotic motion of a magnet attached to a three-dimensional pendulum. Introducing this material into the curriculum and developing extensions or new modules requires students to develop and implement models of the physical world. The modeling process includes an abstraction of the important features of a physical system, expressing these features as variables, codifying the relationships among these variables and running simulations to predict the behavior of the system. Importantly, this verification of the model is accomplished through a detailed analysis using measurements from the real world!

Requirements: Teachers will need access to current web technology, such as JAVA based browsers with suitable plug-ins to display and manipulate material, high-speed networks, and occasionally, access to high performance computing engines for portions of the work. Also essential are support to develop their replacement units and to test the efficacy of these units, and an ability to post the units in a manner that is accessible by others in the program.

Outcomes: Students will obtain a working knowledge base of constructing and manipulating models and testing the laws of physics in a systematic manner. Students will be able to have a greater understanding of the abstraction of the physical world to models, methods of describing and codifying the models, and interacting with the models.

Description: The Shodor Education Foundation, in support of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has developed a number of on-line instructional materials that make significant use of both small air quality models (for instructional use) and large, EPA-developed air quality regulatory models. The instructional materials provide students with a real-life scenario in which students assume the role of air quality consultants. The scenario requires the students to make scientific recommendations on how a local community can meet the new (November 1996) national air quality standards for ozone, and the economic impact of meeting those standards on the community. Since most air quality models are numerically intensive, Shodor has developed a Web-based interface to a representative EPA air quality model (Ozone Isopleth Plotting Program, OZIP) that resides on a Silicon Graphics scientific workstation at Shodor. These currently available materials have been field-tested with a number of educators and students from middle school through graduate level. In addition to the materials designed for the EPA, the Foundation has built additional interface tools that provide a way for novice students (in particular, middle school students) to take advantage of the significant computing power of the on-line air quality model.

The study and understanding of the causes and potential solutions to the formation of tropospheric ozone is an important scientific, economic, and social consideration for all citizens. Unfortunately, the various components that make up the study of air quality are complex and conceptually difficult. In education, educators have difficulty helping their students understand air quality dynamics (and the economic/political impact of air quality science) in a way that allows the students to perform significant “what if” kinds of experiments. However, current advanced communications and computing technologies that allow students and their teachers to perform “real world” investigations into air quality issues are available. Computer models, coupled with authentic and appropriate curricular materials, enable students to investigate the various topics that are involved in air quality issues, including atmospheric science, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, emissions science, and the economic/political implications of air quality issues.

Computational science, among other things, allows us to study events that are too large, too small, too fast, too slow. Air quality is a prime example of such an event. The interactions in the atmosphere include chemical reactions that occur very rapidly and over a long period of time, all over a very large area. The interactions that result in polluted air are quite complicated; one must understand issues of atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric physics, meteorology, emissions inventories, and boundary conditions to be able to successfully simulate how pollution forms in the lower atmosphere. Through the use of air quality models, the student researchers can systematically explore each of these areas, building their understanding of the fundamental science of each of these areas. As knowledge increases, students can begin to explore more fully the underlying theories or mathematics that are the foundation of typical air quality models.

Requirements: In the large scenario, students are expected to work as a team to produce a technical memo detailing the specific steps needed by the polluting source to meet the federal air quality standards. Students are directed in the scenario to provide a recommendation for reduction of precursor pollutants, the data and assumptions they used to arrive at their recommendation, and a cost estimate for their recommendation.

Outcomes:

Outcomes for Computational Physics                                                                                                                          Table 4

9. Systemic Change and Institutionalization.

The PI and co-PI's will collaborate with East Carolina University’s College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education to incorporate materials developed during this project into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum offered to pre-service secondary school teachers. Graduate-level courses in the sciences, which are required for teacher certification, re-certification, and undergraduate secondary science methods courses will provide these experiences. Lesson plans developed by the Teacher Leaders in this project will also be used as curricular support materials for the graduate and undergraduate courses. In addition, project leaders will collaborate with secondary science teachers employed by local school districts to use the materials developed by this project. This dissemination process will be further enhanced through the placement of student interns who have received this computational science training (during their senior year) with Clinical Teachers. The Clinical Teachers are a cadre of science teachers who have participated in NSF's existing Tech Tools Project.

10. The Technology Plan

Desktop video-conferencing technology will be utilized to promote interaction between the cadre and the Internet-based resources provided in this project. In addition, each participating school district will be required to provide release time for participating teachers, a dedicated computer (laptop preferred) with a modem and on-line conferencing tools, an account with a local Internet service provider, and an administrative commitment to structure part of the year’s professional development seminars around this project. Where possible, the school district will commit to award teacher certification credits or continuing education units to participating teachers. To enable the broadest possible participation and to assist school districts in providing the appropriate levels of technology required for this project, partnerships with vendors will be sought. Computing resources will be made available at NCSA, Shodor and ECU for running the computational science models. ECU will also provide the Consortium Teacher Support Center for answering questions from the teacher participants during the school year by email, NetMeeting and telephone. All materials produced and the progress of the project will be stored on a web server at East Carolina University as part of a K-12 outreach program to local school districts. ECU will make available an archive video server containing all presentations and seminars noted as a part of this grant so that any interested teacher, not just those in the cadre, can track the project and view this information at a time convenient to them.

11. Assessment and Evaluation

Assessment will be performed by SERVE (SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education), an independent assessment organization. The three outcome goals will be rigorously examined to determine how well each was accomplished and to provide insight into better project implementation. Information will be gathered yearly for the Steering Committee so changes in the proposal implementation can be made as needed during the project.

 Outcome Goal #1: Explore the impact of computational science instructional modules on depth of student understanding of the material and interest in computer applications, research and science. The evaluator will identify an experimental and control class for each participating teacher. The experimental class will receive instruction on a particular unit through the computational science module the teacher has developed. The control class will receive instruction on the same unit in the way the teacher taught the unit previously. Teachers will be asked to develop open-ended tests that can be given to both experimental and control classes and can be scored using a common rubric that assesses depth of student understanding of the standards (instructional goals) covered by the unit taught. The evaluators will work with project staff to develop the rubric and score the students' work. In addition, students in both experimental and control classes will be asked to complete survey items on their perceptions of the unit and their motivation and interest. Analyses of experimental versus control differences will be conducted separately for teachers developing physics, chemistry, and environmental quality units. In addition to evaluating the impact of the units on students, the evaluator will collect data on the following implementation steps that lead to the desired impact on students: (1) teachers participate in training and receive needed training and skills to enable them to develop effective computational science modules, (2) teachers will develop and implement a quality replacement unit in a class they teach, (3) districts/schools must provide hardware and other support that enables the teachers to develop and teach the replacement unit.

Outcome Goal #2: Create a cadre of computational science teacher leaders who will lead the way for others in their schools and districts. The participating teachers will be asked to create a computational science portfolio from their classroom that includes both work done by the teacher and by the students. The portfolio will be examined according to the following criteria: (1) Clear statement of the scientific principles involved in the teaching materials, (2) Degree of comprehension of the computational science principle shown by the students, (3) Use of the computing resources provided by the Consortium for running computer models, (4) Involvement of external experts, either live or through the use of a video server, in teaching course material, and (5) Percentage of students successfully completing the curriculum unit.

Outcome Goal #3: Assess the support impact of these national efforts to effect change in local school systems.

We will assess this goal by using the following metrics gathered from data provided by the computing resource operators, logs kept by the teachers, and yearly surveys filled out by the teacher participants and school administrators. This assessment will include: (1) availability and effectiveness of the Consortium Teacher Support Center, (2) effectiveness of the collaboration tool suite, (3) evidence of team teaching efforts, (4) evaluation of the support actually needed, (5) Consortium Teacher Support Center logs, and (6) remote resource availability.

12. Project Management

A Steering Committee, chaired by the PI and composed of the PI and co-PIs, will meet monthly to manage the project. An Advisory Committee will give advice on overall project goals and directions to the Steering Committee. Each of the Steering Committee members will have a specific portfolio of duties to perform for the project. Duties include participant recruitment, liaison with the SC2000, SC2001 and SC2002 Conference Committees, event organization, assessment oversight, web site administration, collaborative technology coordination and project administration (including project plan maintenance and milestone monitoring). The typical voluntary participation provided by those organizing the SC Conference event will be utilized as cost sharing to assist with that aspect of this project. Virtual meetings will be held whenever possible to minimize travel costs.

13. Advisory Committee

To help guide this project, a five-member Advisory Committee will be formed with leaders in computational science education, computational science research, and teachers/leaders in the field of Education. The members will have extensive experience in teacher education, computational science, computational science applications, and the high school curriculum. The Advisory Committee will meet twice a year to review progress to date and provide guidance for future program implementation. The Advisory Committee will seek ways to change the teacher pre-service curriculum to include more modeling and simulation hands-on experience for teachers. Advisory Council members are Norma Boakes, Science/Mathematics Teacher, NASA Grant recipient, OCrest HS, New Jersey; Jason Painter Physics/Biology Teacher, Farmville HS, North Carolina; Eric Pitcher, Director, University Marketing, SGI, Minnesota; Kris Stewart, Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program, San Diego State University, California [STE97]; and Paul Tisdel, DoEd National Awards Program for Model Professional Development Program, Texas. A vitae for each member is attached.

14. Milestones

The first cadre will receive 180 hours of training, starting with the SC2000 conference and including a track of presentations at SC2001 showcasing the computational modules developed, plus providing feedback on successes and lessons learned during the year. This feedback will be instrumental in shaping the program for the second cadre that begins with the SC2001 conference. The results of the first cadre and a wrap-up of the SC2001 presentations will be archived as part of the proceedings in order to make them available for future reference. The leaders from the first cadre will also be charged with assisting in the presentation of this computational science program to the second cadre who will be joining this project during SC2001. The second cadre will begin its 180 hours of training at SC2001 with sessions similar in nature to those presented to the first cadre. The second cadre will then finish its program with feedback and presentations at the SC2002 conference. Major planning milestones in the implementation of this proposal are as follows:

Milestones                                                                                                                                                                                              Table 5

15. Key Personnel

Ginger Caldwell, Manager of Operations and Information Support at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, has initiated and coordinated education programs since 1989. She initiated and developed the NSF-funded Supercomputing ’92 Teacher Training Program and was the Education Chair for SC98. She coordinates the annual Colorado Computational Science Fair for high school students who wish to exhibit their computational science and information technology projects.

Dr. Ken Flurchick, Director, Scientific Programs at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), has used high performance computers for computational science for over 15 years. He was PI on the NSF Regional Training Center for Parallel Processing Metacenter award and PI on the OSC component of the Earthvision 2000 award, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored high school computational science program. He participated in the original SuperQuest from ETA Systems, Inc, the Cornell follow-on SuperQuest program, the North Carolina SuperQuest, NSF CT-TEAM Teacher Enhancement grant, and the EPA Earthvision and Earthvision 2000 [COP94] high school computational science programs. He also teaches in the Maryland Virtual High School computational science summer workshop. Dr. Flurchick has a wide range of experience with developing computational science solutions in physics, chemistry, environmental quality plus visualization, web tools and a variety of distance learning models.

Edna Gentry is the Coordinator of the ASPIRE program at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. ASPIRE is a statewide teacher enhancement program that provides professional development training in technology to K-12 teachers in Alabama focusing on infusing computational science into the K-12 classroom. The ASPIRE program has been supportive of the SC Conferences with several teachers attending and presenting at the conference each year since 1991. She is the coordinator for the national computational science program Adventures in Supercomputing and has served on the SC Education Committee from 1994-1998.

Robert R. Gotwals is a member of the Shodor Foundation staff and a former SuperQuest coach and instructor. Mr. Gotwals is a computational science educator, specializing in computational chemistry, the environmental sciences and the biosciences. He has taught chemistry at the Blair High School Magnet Program, was an educator with the North Carolina Supercomputing Center, and was on the faculty at Gallaudet University. Mr. Gotwals holds degrees in chemistry, science education and education of the hearing-impaired.

Barbara Helland, Associate Director, Krell Institute Technical Operations, is responsible for integrating modern computing, communication, and information technology into the classroom including the design/implementation of Department of Energy's Adventures in Supercomputing (AiS) program for K-12 computational science programs ('92-'98). She helped establish the Undergraduate Computational and Engineering Sciences (UCES) project, administered the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program and served on the SC Conference education program steering committee in '94, '95, '97 and '98.

Dr. Jeffrey Huskamp, CIO at East Carolina University (ECU), has over 25 years of experience in high performance computing, computational science applications, and networking. He is the PI for an NSF Network Connections Program grant to connect ECU to the NSF vBNS research network. Dr. Huskamp is a former Director of the North Carolina Supercomputing Center with the mission of promoting the adoption of HPC and visualization in universities and K-12 school systems in North Carolina. He has been involved in the SC Conference Executive Committee since '95, and is the SC2000 / SC2001 Education Vice Chair. Dr. Huskamp has participated in several NSF review panels, and was a PI on the NSF CT-TEAM Teacher Enhancement grant.

Anne Marie Kelly is Director of the Computer Society, a non-profit professional association of computer scientists and engineers who provide voluntary services at the IEEE. Her responsibilities include staff support for the society's educational, chapter, and student standards and technical activities and as a liaison for the SC Conferences. She also served as a co-PI for several SC Conference education grants.

Scott Lathrop, Program Manager for EOT-PACI at NCSA, has been engaged in education and outreach activities at NCSA since 1986. He has helped secure/manage NSF and State of Illinois funded projects to support teacher training, programs to assist teachers with integrating curriculum in the classroom, and identifying mentors to assist K-12 teachers/students. He has also been instrumental in including undergraduate and graduate students in programs as preparation for careers in science and education and in supporting activities at the SC Conference.

Ernest G. Marshburn, Director of Strategic Initiatives at ECU, has over 20 years of experience in education while promoting ECU leadership in educational information technology by focusing on external funding opportunities, strategic Information Technology (IT) planning, national multi-university IT initiatives, government, and commercial agency collaborations, vendor partnerships, and research development. His work includes participation with SC and UCAID. His HPC involvement includes telemedicine, population health management, Internet2, HPC, distance education, and national centers of excellence. Mr. Marshburn started his career as a high school teacher in North Carolina.

Dr. Robert M. Panoff, Founder/Executive Director of The Shodor Education Foundation has been a national laboratory consultant, frequent presenter at NSF workshops on visualization, supercomputing, and networking, and is an education program consultant for NCSA at the University of Illinois and is on the advisory panel for the Applications of Advanced Technology program at NSF. He has won several major science/education awards, including the Cray Gigaflop Performance Award at Supercomputing '94, the Undergraduate Computational Science Education Awards from the DOE ('95), and the Achievement Award from the Society for Technical Communication, Chicago Chapter ('95). The Shodor Foundation was named as an NSF Foundation Partner ('96).

Dr. Helen Parke, Director, Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at ECU, provides professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers in over 350 schools across eastern NC. She co-directed the Estuary Project at SC'98, a virtual visit to offshore estuarine reserves using streaming video and chatroom technology, and designed/maintains the Queen Anne’s Revenge educational web site for the NC Department of Cultural Resources. She is the Curriculum Development Director for the NSTA Scope, Sequence, and Coordination of Secondary School Science, and was a co-PI on the NSF CT-TEAM Teacher Enhancement grant.

16. Results from Prior NSF Support

Computational Training for Teacher Enhancement, Action, and Motivation (CT-TEAM) NSF Award # 9353416 (5/15/93 – 2/28/97 - $383,823). This project successfully linked a small rural school district (Camden County) with Elizabeth City State University, East Carolina University and the North Carolina Supercomputing Center to enable K-12 teachers to use computational science models with their students. The science content focused on wetland environments vital to the region. Elementary teachers focused on earth science concepts through visual representations and simulations. Middle grades teachers used projects that included collecting and analyzing data that was then entered into models for observing relationships among environmental factors. The secondary students used Stella as the modeling tool to understand ecological concepts. Students from all grade levels presented their research findings at publicized school site events. Forty-two teachers received professional development in computational science modeling environments. Two PIs on the present proposal were PIs on the CT-TEAM project: Dr. Jeffrey Huskamp, for computational science expertise, and Dr. Helen Parke, for the alignment of high performance modeling techniques with the curriculum, who presented results at three conferences [PAR95] [PAR96][PAR97].

SC2000 Education Program - Internal Planning Web Site

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LAST UPDATED: 03/30/2000