Leading team:
- Prof. Nir Orion
Project team:
- Ron Ben-Shalom
- Irit tal
- Gilad Petranker
Brief
Distance learning of the Earth Science high school program by students from different schools all over Israel.
The DENC project was developed in order to overcome the two primary constrains faced by schools when adopting the high-school Earth sciences program: shortage of available Earth Science teachers, and the schools’ ability to launch new study programs. The National Class consists of students from schools all over Israel, attending the exact same curriculum as students from a school-based program, but as distance learners. Following our previous research on the subject, we have developed a computerized, web-based, distance-learning program that is identical to the regular inquiry-based program: Students conduct all the inquiry-based lab activities using their home kits and assisted by the instructions provided on the DENC website. All field trips are carried out as usual, and students are supervised with the same level of scrutiny as a regular class, through the web tools.