What kinds of digital learning experiences do educators want?

Digital learning experiences are now frequently used in science education to explain important phenomena. In spite of this broad and growing use, there has not been a comprehensive needs assessment regarding the topics and designs of these learning experiences. Such an assessment is particularly important now as shifts toward inquiry teaching require tools that allow students to ask and answer scientific questions. We created and distributed an online survey to ask middle and high school educators about their past experiences using computer simulations in teaching and what they see as current needs for new resources. The survey was structured around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and limited to disciplinary course ideas (DCI) with relevance to NASA or space science.

Participants completed one or more subsections corresponding to their teaching level (middle or high school) and their subject area(s) (physical, earth and space, or life science, plus engineering). In each subject, they could select the three DCIs for which a simulation would be useful. Participants were recruited from the Infiniscope digital teaching network and NSTA listservs. In total, we received 102 middle school and 38 high school complete responses. Participants were geographically diverse and 40% of participants work at a Title 1 school.

Although almost every listed DCI was selected by at least one educator, certain topics rose to the top. The DCI "Earth and the Solar System" was highest rated across both middle and high school earth and space science, with more than 60% of participants selecting it. This DCI emphasizes understanding of planetary motion and gravitation including key concepts such as phases of the moon and eclipses. Other highly rated earth and space science DCIs were "Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions" and "Weather and Climate". Beyond the DCI ratings, we also received a wide range of comments about specific simulations and general learning design ideas. In follow-up work, we will confirm and expand our findings by repeating this study with a larger population of educators. We hope that this information along with that of the open-ended responses will help funding agencies and organizations creating digital learning experiences to prioritize future investments.