Steven E. Hall, Mythili Sridhar, Mohan K. Ramamurthy, and Robert B. Wilhelmson
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Illinois
The faculty at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, along with project partners at Northwestern University and the Exploratorium museum at San Francisco, is participating in an NSF-funded project known as, or "Collaborative Visualization." The objective of CoVis is to enhance the Earth Science and Environmental Sciences education at participating high schools through project-based inquiry that is aided by a new generation of telecommunications and computing technologies. As part of our CoVis activities, we are engaged in the development of multimedia instructional modules that introduce and explain basic concepts in meteorology. The hypermedia instructional modules, which can be regarded as sections of an on-line electronic textbook, take advantage of the latest innovations in the field of multimedia information technology and contain text, colorful diagrams, scanned and animated images, and audio and video clips.
The first generation of modules were designed using the Hypercard interface from Apple and, as such, were not Newark-accessible. But in light of the revolution that is underway in the use of the Internet, effort was redirected to develop instructional resources using the World Wide Web technology. To date, web-based modules have been developed on many introductory tropics, including Pressure, Forces and Winds, Interpretation of Weather Maps and Satellite Images, Atmospheric Optics, Cloud Classification, and on Severe Storms. All these modules are accessible through The Daily PlanetTM server (http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/. These modules are integrated into the CoVis curriculum at participating high schools. Since these modules are Internet-accessible, their usage is not limited to the CoVis project, and, in fact, are being accessed daily by users across the network.
The next step is to integrate the modules with other on-line resources on the CoVis Geosciences Web Server that is currently under development. The ultimate goal is to create a more interactive environment where the student becomes an "active" participant in the learning process. For example, interactive weather maps will provide students with the capability of clicking on unfamiliar features, like a warm front, and transparently gain access to instructional module pages that provide definitions, diagrams and additional information pertaining to warm fronts. In addition, selected modules will also contain student activities and quizzes that will not only foster an interactive learning environment but will also reinforce and assess a student's understanding of the concepts introduced. Another portion of the CoVis Geosciences Web Server, discussed in a companion paper, will contain a collection of project-based activities that provide teachers with practical applications for data, student mentoring, and other Internet resources.
Contact Information:
Steven E. Hall
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Illinois
105 S. Gregory Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-333-8132
Fax: 217-244-4393
hall@uiatma.atmos.uiuc.edu