Interactive surfaces are increasingly common in museums and other informal learning environments where they are seen as a medium for promoting social engagement. However, despite their increasing prevalence, we know very little about factors that contribute to collaboration and learning around interactive surfaces. In this paper we present analyses of visitor engagement around several multi-touch tabletop science exhibits. Observations of 629 visitors were collected through two widely used techniques: video study and shadowing. We make four contributions: 1) we present an algorithm for identifying groups within a dynamic flow of visitors through an exhibit hall; 2) we present measures of group-level engagement along with methods for statistically analyzing these measures; 3) we assess the effect of observational techniques on visitors' engagement, demonstrating that consented video studies do not necessarily reflect visitor behavior in more naturalistic circumstances; and 4) we present an analysis showing that groups of two, groups with both children and adults, and groups that take turns spend longer at the exhibits and engage more with scientific concepts.

New Software tools for data analysis provide rich opportunities for representing and understanding data. However, little research has been done on hoe learners use these tools to think about data, nor how that affects teaching. This paper describes several ways that learners use new software tools to deal with variability in analyzing data, specifically in the context of comparing groups. The two methods we discuss are 1) reducing the apparent variability in a data set by grouping the values using numerical bins or cut points and 2) using proportions to interpret the relationship between bin size group size. This work is based on our observations of middle- and high-school teachers in a professional development seminar, as well as of students in these teachers’ classrooms, and in a 13-week sixth grade teaching experiment. We conclude with remarks on the implications of these uses of new software tools for research and teaching. First published November 2004 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives

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We describe the development, design, implementation, and preliminary classroom results of an innovative curriculum, Focus on Energy, that supports learning about energy in Grades 4-5. The curriculum is grounded in the concepts of science as practice, model-based reasoning, and learning progressions, and builds on students' pre-existing ideas and resources. We illustrate how students gradually develop the ability to track energy forms, transfers, and transformations in increasingly complex scenarios. We present evidence, using a quasi-experimental design, that students who completed the curriculum were significantly more adept at these skills than students in comparable classrooms who experienced their districts' existing energy-related physical science curricula. Important features of the curriculum include: the careful selection of a limited set of concepts chosen to provide a sound foundation for future learning; a consistent conceptual framework (the Energy Tracking Lens) within which the students have agency to build and refine a model of energy; engaging hands-on activities that steadily build in complexity; accessible and versatile semi-quantitative representations that support reasoning and communication; individual, small-group and large-group meaning-making;and training and support for the teachers.

Create opportunities for students to engage in the Standards for Mathematical Practice and support them in further explaining and justifying their ideas.