The primary goal of this project is to leverage web-based technologies to develop and make available a set of professional development supports for teachers and curricular supports for students, which will allow middle school students distributed in classrooms across the state to learn astronomy in a project-based, technology-rich learning environment. We will accomplish this through an innovative pedagogical approach that extends our pilot work, work in which we developed an astronomy curriculum that utilizes modeling and visualization tools to support students in building VR worlds and, in the process, to learn astronomy in an exciting way. Similar to the NASA Classroom of the Future, we intend to build an online resource center for teachers and students. However, where the NASA Classroom of the Future resources are geared towards supporting students in preparing a report to present their position, our project focuses on the use of tools to create internet-based VR worlds. Taking advantage of advanced networking capabilities will allow us to get learner-centered science materials to the schools, and to support teachers in facilitating learner-centered work.

To support students, we will use the WWW to create shared virtual workspaces for students to construct, view, and share their VR worlds. During the model building activity, we will have various web-based resources to support student work and collaboration around the projects. There will also be digitized videos of astronomers at IU talking about important concepts related to student models. These videos will be on a real-video server and will be available on-demand. In addition, an online multimedia assessment system that takes advantage of video streaming capabilities will be developed.

To support teachers, we will develop the Astronomy Resource Website for Teachers. This will have an overview of our pedagogical framework, including video illuminations, to support teachers in module integration as well as the development of their own modules. In addition, we will have an overview of one module, which can be directly integrated into their courses. There will be communication supports, both text- and video-based, to facilitate collaborations and to serve as fodder for a database of frequently asked questions. Lastly, there will be a set of dynamic, video-based assessment examples to support teachers in evaluating student projects.

In this proposal, we outline how this goal will be met through an entire range of development efforts, focusing on the above overviewed supports for teachers and for their students. This project is consistent with application # 3 in the call for proposals, specifically network-based interactions between classroom teachers and astronomy and pedagogical experts here at IU, as well as the delivery of digital media in support of teaching. The fact that we are working middle and high schools is consistent with the interests of many of the schools in the IU system, and has direct relevance to the School of Continuing Studies who is experimenting with technological innovations to improve their online middle and high school courses. The project will also further our understanding of the design of collaborative spaces for maintaining video over the internet, including linking into the state-wide backbone. Lastly, it provides a rich pedagogical model for distributive education, leveraging advanced VR technology to facilitate learning.