Developing Educational E-books for High School Students
Outcome: LA-SiGMA Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) participants have developed two e-Books for high school students, one on scientific visualization, and another one in superconductivity.
Impact: These e-Books are informative, motivational, interactive, editable, and structured, and will be made readily available to students and teachers in multiple formats (apple, android, Microsoft, and epub). These e-Books allow for a variety of teaching styles: reading, step by step galleries, short video clips, links to bookmarks and webpages, and interactive pop-ups and self-quizzes.
The data visualization iBook has been used to teach “Introduction to Scientific Visualization” at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA). Students worked on a variety of project themes that blend Art, Computer Science, Math, Humanities, and Science. Large gains in Computer Science and Science interest are seen with modest gains in Art. Large gains are also seen in perceived skill levels in spreadsheet, visual arts, and presentation skills.
Explanation/Background: High school students are often more curious about advanced science topics than the material currently in their science curriculum. High School teachers would love to feed that curiosity. However, due to curriculum demands teachers do not have class time to indulge those questions. And, while knowledgeable about their subject matter, teachers may not have knowledge of advanced or new science topics. Often this sends students to websites written by and for scientists with advanced degrees. Those materials get over the students’ heads quickly and give up. Our goal is to present advanced science topics (e.g., superconductivity, scientific visualization) in a way that will allow them to learn, while still maintaining their interest.