INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGNER
CURTIS WANG
Carbon Copy
Stanford University
An inquiry-based high school biology module that integrates design thinking, engineering, and mobile
& cloud technologies across formal and informal learning environments to teach topics in biomimicry.
April - June 2014
ONLINE CURRICULUM DESIGNER
At Stanford's Learning, Design and Technology program, I conceptualized an inquiry- and design-based learning module to teach high school biology students the science of biomimicry.
This three-part module first deepens understanding of biological concepts through an immersive inquiry-based activity, then introduces the process and habits of mind of design thinking, then finally challenges students to apply design thinking and core biological concepts to develop a biomimetic innovation that addresses a societal problem. In the first phase, students attain declarative knowledge and honing procedural knowledge as they apply basic models of biodiversity to real life examples in immersive environments
I applied a modified Dick and Carey approach to designing this module, which included five steps: 1) Develop benchmark tasks; 2) Cognitive Task Analysis; 3) Refine goal specification using data and summarize in model; 4) Employ learning principles to design instruction, assessments, and materials; 5) Prototype and test the module.
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
The Zydeco iOS app, developed by researchers at the University of Michigan, is a data collection and cloud-based sharing mobile app specially designed to support cross-context scientific inquiry. It enables teachers and students to create science investigations by defining goals, questions and labels in order to annotate, organize, and reflect on multimodal data (photos, videos, audio, text). This greatly enhances the learning experience as students take ownership of their own findings and are able to construct their own scientific explanations from authentic, user-generated data.
Although Zydeco supports canonical practices in scientific inquiry, the technology was selected as its design presents multiple affordances with a true eye to learning mechanics in both formal and informal settings. It celebrates the use of multimodal information, encouraging learners to capture a range of artifacts and experiences. It allows learners the flexibility to follow their own interests within a guided question or prompt, which promotes ownership and motivation. Zydeco also encourages collaboration, as it is open-ended enough to allow students to take on specialized roles and engage in community-driven meaning making and analysis.