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8847 MultiMedia Technology to Facilitate Learning Community Members: Terry Farris and Erica Ellsworth Instructor: Dr. Timothy Powell

Workshop Assignment/Focus A 5-hour Multi-Media workshop in using inquiry-based learning to teach middle / high school sciences (7-12) for developing critical thinking skills in students and multimedia production training for science teachers. Applications will be for both academy and distance education environments.

TITLE: Who is asking the questions? TOPIC: A Multi-Media Workshop for Science Teachers on Inquiry-Based Learning Strategies.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS/POPULATION: This workshop is designed for middle and high school academy and distance education science teachers.

OUTCOMES: 1) Teachers will practice multimedia technologies in delivering content 2) Teachers will be able to train students in multimedia technologies and applications 3) Teachers will be able become familiar with the WHAT: science education philosophy of inquiry, with the WHY of inquiry[based science; and with the HOW of inquiry-based science. 4) Teachers will be able to use a critical thinking skills pre and post assessment to measure the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning with their students. 5) Teachers will practice a student-centered curriculum strategy as opposed to teacher-directed, and will learn and practice new roles as facilitators, curators, modelers, amplifiers, sense-makers.

GAP #1: Little data is known on the effectiveness of learning in a DE environment at the K-12 level. Perceptions are not necessarily based on data and measurable.There is a need for authentic assessments and data collection.

GAP #2 Many of our teachers are not up to date with the latest multimedia technologies that can support the learning process, offering more visual, auditory, and collaborative learning, especially in the DE environment.

GAP #3 This applies to my school district, a charter school with several academies and thousands of home school students where their is a desperate need for DE that is relevant and not mimicking the classroom with a collection of information content that is being poured into the empty vessel of a student.