Learning-for-Use in Earth science: Kids as climate modelers
D.C. Edelson, C. Salierno, G. Matese, V. Pitts, and B. Sherin 2002 Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching

This paper discusses the Learning-for-Use design framework, a tool to aid curriculum designers develop engaging curricula that foster useful understanding of material. The main goals of the framework are to identify student understanding and misconceptions and design curriculum that addresses misconceptions by getting students to motivate themselves to gain new knowledge, build new knowledge structures, and organize and connect knowledge structures. The focus of this paper is on the implementation and results of Planetary Forecaster, a curriculum designed with the framework that combines hands-on activities with computer investigations. Three in-depth case studies of students who completed Planetary Forecaster are highlighted.

Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Education, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology
Resource Type: Scientific Resources:Overview/Reference Work, Research Results, Report
Research on Learning: Geoscience Expertise:Complex Systems, Instructional Design:Scaffolding, Cognitive Domain:How information is organized, Instructional Design:Use of Technology, Cognitive Domain:Misconceptions/barriers to learning