Learning Sciences Technology (LST) Fall 2002 Qualifier Exam

Answer five questions.

Remember to cite the readings.

1. State your own personal definition of scaffolding.  Tell us how it conforms to or differs from other definitions, and justify yours.

2. Imagine you have just been hired as a post doc by Michael and Ann Eisenberg at the University of Colorado.  You have a two-year appointment.  Your assignment is to take the Hypergami project further.  Write an outline of your research plan.  What do you hope to accomplish?  What research questions would you like to answer?  How will you answer those questions?

3. Imagine that you want groups of students to discuss and evaluate several hypotheses concerning a physical phenomena.  You are considering two interfaces:

a) A shared text document (like the CoWeb), perhaps annotated with a chat space, where users can lay out their arguments and discuss the hypotheses.

b) A shared graphical representation of the hypotheses, arguments, claims, and evidence like that used in Belvedere or KIE/WISE.  (You're welcome to specify which one you're using in your answer.)

Make your own hypotheses about these representations.  Which would work best and for what kinds of outcomes?  For example, if you care about creativity in the arguments, which would you prefer?  If you care about how thoroughly the students evaluate each hypothesis, which representation would you prefer?

4. In question 3, how would you test your hypotheses?  Explain in detail.

5. For the Kids as Global Scientists project, Nancy Songer wants to add a modeling and simulation environment where students will explore the factors that influence hurricane path, development, and the potential damage upon landfall. Several kinds of interfaces are being considered: ones built on Boxer, Model-It, Agentsheets, StarLogo, and Squeak.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each approach?  Pick *three* of the platforms and explain in detail.  You should identify and define whatever factors you consider critical in this comparison, but the factors should include the age of the students (does it matter if these are fifth, eight, or eleventh graders?), the motivation of the students, and the ease of fitting the tool into the classroom setting.

6. Someone in the undergraduate class several weeks ago asked, "Isn't LBD just a form of constructionism?"  What do you think?

7. A socio-technical system is a combination of people, old and new technologies, and social practices.  For the socio-technical system you are designing in your own research, explain which parts of your design you intend to realize in each of old media, new media, and social practices.  Explain why.