K-12 Virtual Labs for Teaching the Science of Geochronology

A research team composed of geoscientists and instructional design and educational technology specialists at Boise State University is developing a series of virtual learning activities to teach the science of geochronology, which is defined to include an understanding not only of the vastness of geologic time, but how the geologic time scale is defined, and why knowing the ages of Earth events is important. The curriculum is being designed in partnership with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy for implementation and evaluation in their on-line Earth Science courses but will be available nationwide to students and teachers through digital libraries of teaching resources. In cooperation with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, the following objectives are being met: 1) Development of a series of virtual labs and field experiences (learning objects) for use by middle and high school students that can be strung together as part of a comprehensive curriculum on the science of geochronology or used separately to focus on specific learning objectives defined for each activity; 2) Creation of the learning objects such that they are SCORM-compliant and can readily be used in learning management systems such as BlackBoard(R) and Moodle(R); 3) Training of teachers in the science of geochronology and the use of the learning objects; and 4) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the learning objects in meeting their educational objectives.