INTRODUCTION
Online learning continues its expansion of die Inglier education market. WIne students often enroll in online courses because of convenience and autonomy, research studies confirmed that online courses can be effective learning environments, dependent upon instructional delivery (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones 2009; Tallent-Runnels, Thomas, Lan, & Cooper, 2006). Sonic research studies concluded that online delivery of content maybe more effective than traditional classroom delivery (Maki, Maki, & Whittaker, 2000), cspeciaHy when measured by conceptual assessment items (Parker & Gemino, 2001).
Many practicing science teachers choose online environments for furthering their science content knowledge, as attested by die success of several distance learning degree programs. Research that focused specifically on science learning affirmed that online instruction can be effective (King & Hildreth, 2001; Johnson, 2002). However, most online research studies investigated course content, and did not necessarily focus on active learning strategies. Science educators generally acknowledge that a science curriculum should emphasize the nature of science and foster the development of scientific habits of mind within the student population, but how this is best accomplished in the online environment has not been frilly researched, particularly with a practicing teacher population. Distance learning classrooms bring new and additional challenges for effective education, and online instruction encounters different constraints for successftil science content delivery.
Although discipline-specific content is important within each course, student inquiry and decision-making are processes that reveal—and reinforce—the methods by which the body of science progresses. Science education research studies reported successthl outcomes with inquiry-based and active learning strategies in traditional classrooms, but little investigation has been conducted on the translation of these methods for online environments. Therefore, our research into science curriculum development for practicing teachers focused upon identifying the science content as well as the methods by which the nature of science and scientific habits of mind can be conveyed in the online environment with a geographically widespread teacher population.
ACTIVE LEARNING, INFORMAL ENVIRONMENTS, AND LOCAL
ENVIRONMENTS
When designing a science curriculum, developers must keep in niind methods by which content will be delivered, as well as the differences that exist in various learning
Science Curriculum Development in Online Environments 369
environments. Many research studies affumed the benefits of active and student-centered learning (Mcconnell, Steer, & Owens, 2003; Lawrenz, Huffinan, & Appeldoorn, 2005; Michael & Modell, 2003). Settings outside die traditional classroom, or informal educational environments, also can provide rich learning opportunities in science (Anderson, Lucas, & Ginns, 2003). Informal field experiences supply environmental context and land ethic (McLaughlin, 2005). Field experiences also can provide holistic experiences that students retain (Bernstein, 2004), and have resulted in significant science concept gains (Elkins & Elkins, 2007). Furthermore, research investigations that probed students’ sense of place revealed that the local landscape had the greatest effects on perception, content-specific knowledge, and affective rcspouses toward thc subjcct (Clary & Wanderscc, 2006; Wandersee, Clary, & Guzman, 2006). Past research, therefore, supports active learning strategies that move students beyond the confines of traditional classroom walls, and that incorporate local environments with which students are most familiar. Can active learning strategies and local enviromuents be incorporated in online environments within a successful science curriculum? With geographically diverse student populations, “local environment” has a different meaning for most students, and few commonalities exist.
HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND NATURE OF SCIENCE
The history of science has been recognized as an important component in science classrooms to convey the nature of science to our students. Attesting to its importance, the National Scicncc Education Standards includcd thc “History and Naturc of Science” as one of the eight categories of content standards. The incorporation of the history of science in the classroom can reveal science as an interesting endeavor (Matthews, 1994), humanize the curriculum (Jenkins, 1989), and demonstrate how scientific knowledge is restructured and modified as new data and research materialize (Duschl, 1994). Through the history and philosophy of science, instructors can confront misconceptions of the linearity of scientific advancement and the streamlined perception of “final form” science (Duschl, 1990). The history of science reveals scientists’ personalities and inherent biases, but importantly demonstrates that