The Use of Complementary Virtual and Real Scientific Models to Engage Students in Inquiry

Abstract

This chapter reports on a four-year study to change how climate change science is taught and learned in schools. The goal of the Climate Change Narrative Game Education (CHANGE) project is to take what is known about reform-based practices, incorporating students' lived experiences into the curriculum, and the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into the classroom. CHANGE uses the following: scientifically realistic text narratives (text stories with local characters, 50-100 years in the future, a local, place-based approach, a focus on the built environment, the use of simulations and games based on scientific data, and a web-based “intermedia” eBook narrative where sections of narrative text alternate with simulations and computer games. The chapter reports on the ways that we have used the above principles to connect classrooms and communities and school science with academic science to facilitate student inquiry into climate science by combining virtual serious educational games with in class, hands-on inquiry using scientific models.